UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

(Mark One)

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018

OR

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM                      TO                     

Commission file number: 001-37851

 

AIRGAIN, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

 

95-4523882

(State or Other Jurisdiction of

Incorporation or Organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

 

3611 Valley Centre Drive, Suite 150

San Diego, CA

 

92130

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

 

(Zip Code)

(760) 579-0200

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class:

 

Name of each exchange on which registered:

Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share

 

The Nasdaq Capital Market

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

Indicate by a check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes      No  

Indicate by a check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes      No  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes      No  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes      No  

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

 

 

 

 

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

 

 

 

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).     Yes      No  

As of June 29, 2018 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $74.5 million, based on the closing price of the registrant’s common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market of $9.19 per share.

As of March 13, 2019, the registrant had 10,029,281  shares of common stock ($0.0001 par value) outstanding. 

 

 

 

 

 


AIRGAIN, INC.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORM 10-K

For the Year Ended December 31, 2018

INDEX

 

PART I

  

 

 

Item 1.

  

Business

4

Item 1A.

  

Risk Factors

16

Item 1B.

  

Unresolved Staff Comments

34

Item 2.

  

Properties

34

Item 3.

  

Legal Proceedings

34

Item 4.

  

Mine Safety Disclosures

34

 

 

 

PART II

  

 

 

Item 5.

  

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

35

Item 6.

  

Selected Financial Data

37

Item 7.

  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

39

Item 7A.

  

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

52

Item 8.

  

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

52

Item 9.

  

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

52

Item 9A.

  

Controls and Procedures

52

Item 9B.

  

Other Information

53

 

 

 

PART III

  

 

 

Item 10.

  

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

55

Item 11.

  

Executive Compensation

62

Item 12.

  

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

72

Item 13.

  

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

76

Item 14.

  

Principal Accounting Fees and Services

77

 

 

 

PART IV

  

 

 

Item 15.

  

Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

79

Item 16.

  

Form 10-K Summary

79

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


PART I

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND MARKET DATA

This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this annual report, including statements regarding our future operating results, financial position and cash flows, our business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. This annual report on Form 10-K also contains estimates and other statistical data made by independent parties and by us relating to market size and growth and other data about our industry. This data involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the markets in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions.  The forward-looking statements in this annual report are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, operating results, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives. These forward- looking statements speak only as of the date of this annual report and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.  The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

Airgain, the Airgain logo, and other trademarks or service marks of Airgain appearing in this annual report are the property of Airgain. This annual report also includes trademarks, tradenames and service marks that are the property of other organizations. Solely for convenience, trademarks and tradenames referred to in this annual report appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or that the applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these trademarks and tradenames.

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ITEM 1.     BUSINESS

Overview

Airgain is a leading provider of advanced antenna technologies used to enable high performance wireless networking across a broad range of devices and markets, including Consumer, Enterprise, and Automotive.  Our innovative antenna systems are designed to address key challenges with wireless system performance faced by our customers. We provide solutions to complex Radio Frequency, or RF, engineering challenges and help improve wireless services that require higher throughput, broad coverage footprint, and carrier grade quality. Our antennas are deployed in carrier, fleet, enterprise, residential, private, government, and public safety wireless networks and systems, including set-top boxes, access points, routers, modems, gateways, media adapters, portables, digital televisions, sensors, fleet and asset tracking devices. Through our pedigree in the design, integration, and testing of high performance embedded antenna technology, we have become a leading provider to the residential wireless local area networking, also known as WLAN, market, supplying to leading carriers, Original Equipment Manufacturers, or OEMs, Original Design Manufacturers, or ODMs, and chipset manufacturers who depend on us to achieve their wireless performance goals.

Our embedded and external antenna solutions support a variety of wireless access technologies across the licensed and unlicensed spectrum of frequency bands. These include IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n, 802.11ac/ax, WCDMA, LTE, DECT, LPD, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Z-Wave, among others. In addition, we have expertise in the testing and benchmarking of wireless systems and devices. To satisfy the rapidly evolving technology needs of the industry, we have remained on the leading edge of next generation development by providing solutions for Multiple Input, Multiple Output, or MIMO, Multi User MIMO, or MU-MIMO, short range wireless technologies, beam forming, and active antenna technology.

Our design teams partner with customers from the early stages of antenna prototyping to device throughput testing to facilitate optimal performance and quick time to market.  Our capabilities include design, custom engineering support, integration, and over-the-air, or OTA, testing. These capabilities have resulted in a strong reputation across the OEM, ODM and chipset manufacturer ecosystem.  Our competencies and strengths have helped us secure design wins used in multiple reference designs from leading Wi-Fi chipset vendors. OEMs, ODMs, chipset manufacturers and service providers rely on these reference designs and our engineering skills to deliver superior throughput performance. We view our relationships with OEM, ODM, chipset manufacturers and service providers as an important attribute to our long-term strategy and success.

In 2018, we had over 1,000 antenna products in our portfolio which shipped worldwide and implemented across millions of devices.  During 2018, we supplied our products to carriers, retailers, OEMs, ODMs and end users in three primary geographic regions: North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.  Our customer base includes ARRIS Group, Inc., AT&T (DIRECTV U.S., LLC), Belkin International, Inc., Charter Communications, Inc., Comcast Corporation, Dish Network, Liberty Global plc., Telefonica SA, Sagemcom SAS, Samsung, Technicolor SA and ZTE Corporation, among others. We have achieved significant growth in our business in a short period of time. From 2012 to 2018, our annual sales have grown from $18.2 million to $60.6 million, while our net loss has increased from a net loss of $1.1 million in 2012 to net loss of $2.6 million in 2018.

We primarily use third parties to manufacture our products while maintaining oversight for critical quality, test and calibration functions. As of December 31, 2018, we had 175 issued patents in the United States and 24 companion patents outside the United States, and 49 patent applications on file.

Industry Background and Market Opportunity

Global adoption of Wi-Fi has been a major contributor to our growth to date and underpinning the demand has been the growth in internal protocol, or IP, traffic and IP-enabled devices. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, by 2022, Wi-Fi and mobile networks will account for an estimated 71% of IP traffic, up from 52% in 2017.  We believe the greater proportion of traffic being transmitted and received over wireless technologies will be a tailwind for greater adoption of antenna systems. According to ABI Research, next to cellular handsets, consumer access points are the second biggest consumers of Wi-Fi chipsets. Residential gateways and Wireless access points make up the majority of consumer access points, the vast majority of which are provided to consumers by carriers, service providers and retailers. Carriers and enterprises have realized the economic benefits of wireless connectivity to enable efficient delivery of premium content and internet services in the home, enterprise and mobile. The rapid growth of mobile data traffic has been widely recognized and reported. The trend toward mobility carries over into the realm of fixed networks since an increasing portion of traffic will originate from portable or mobile devices.

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The wireless market for antenna systems is growing rapidly as the technology is adopted across a wide variety of markets, including the following key markets we target:

 

Consumer.  The consumer market encompasses a large and growing market of consumers using wireless-enabled devices including consumer access points, wireless gateways, Wi-Fi Mesh systems, smart TVs, smart home devices, and set-top boxes. These devices facilitate a variety of consumer oriented applications and services including wireless video streaming, home automation, smart appliances, home security systems, and smart TV entertainment systems. We estimate that the total addressable market for our antennas in the consumer market will grow at a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 9% between 2017 and 2022, based on ABI research and our internal estimates of average selling price, or ASP. Furthermore, according to ABI Research, the market for set-top boxes shipped worldwide is expected to increase from 45.4 million device shipments in 2018 to 61.4 million in 2022. In the same period, the number of smart TV’s shipped are expected to grow from 125.4 million to 233 million. Within the consumer market, the connected home market has seen an explosion of automation services and broadband-connected devices, making the demand for increased bandwidth, high throughput and reliable connectivity more critical than ever before. Between 2017 and 2022, residential Wi-Fi Mesh systems and smart home devices are anticipated to experience some of the highest growth rates within the consumer market, with a CAGR of 63% and 31%, respectively.

 

 

Enterprise. The enterprise market is characterized by devices that provide reliable wireless access for high-density environments such as buildings, campuses, terminals and stadiums. These systems have become mission-critical as they require high performance and scalability and are required to support a wide range of applications across different network environments. These include access points and gateways, small cells, and remote radio heads. Within the enterprise market, which includes Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), we play a critical role in providing embedded and external connectivity solutions.  We estimate that the total addressable market for our antennas in the enterprise market will grow at a CAGR of 26% from 2017 to 2022, based on ABI Research device shipment numbers and our internal estimates of ASP.  

 

 

Automotive. The automotive industry is in the midst of significant transformation led by innovations around safety, energy efficiency, autonomous driving, and infotainment systems.   According to ABI Research, the number of vehicles produced worldwide with wireless connectivity capability is expected to increase from 32 million in 2017 to over 70 million per year by 2022. While one segment of the automotive antenna market is tied to antennas designed and integrated into new vehicles, the other is tied to the fleet and aftermarket segment. The fleet and aftermarket segment consists of applications whereby external modems are paired with external antenna systems to provide connectivity to fixed and mobile assets. Within the fleet and aftermarket market segment, there has been a rise in the number of antennas per vehicle. This is largely driven by the increasing needs of connectivity across different access technologies that include Wi-Fi, 3G, LTE, Satellite, and low power wide area networking, or LPWAN.  We estimate the total addressable market for our antennas in the automotive market will grow at a CAGR of 15% from 2017 and 2022, based on ABI Research device shipment numbers and our internal ASP estimates.

Antenna Design and Testing

We are an antenna solution provider that not only has the expertise in antenna design, engineering and integration, but also the testing and optimization of OTA throughput. Our expertise is based on years of experience in dealing with multiple antenna designs performing under varying RF conditions. We believe our expertise is important to our success as the wireless RF environment in homes, enterprises, and public places is a highly complex multipath environment that is not accurately represented by antenna simulation tool modeling. While common antenna industry practice is to design antennas exclusively within a passive environment using simulation tools based on the assumption of free space, we design all our antenna systems using a combination of device and environment modeling combined with active antenna OTA throughput performance feedback.

This performance feedback loop forms the foundation of our integration process that optimizes overall device performance, as well as antenna characteristics. Our regional OTA testing facilities are configured to replicate the real-world performance in typical homes and offices, while providing isolation from external RF and wireless interference. This low noise environment is key when comparing and identifying the effect of various antenna and system designs on wireless throughput performance. We have multiple dedicated test sites located in the vicinity of our development locations in San Diego, California, Melbourne, Florida, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and Suzhou and Shenzhen, China.

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Our engineers work directly with customers to evaluate performance factors, and to provide custom support in the areas of antenna system design and simulation, rapid prototyping, integration and testing. The following is a high level summary of our design and integration process:

 

Engineering Review. When a new product is initiated, our engineers review antenna-specific characteristics, such as gain (throughput), efficiency, and coupling, alongside board-level factors, such as on-board noise and radio interference, as well as identification and housing constraints. We plan to expand awareness of our brand and our offerings throughout the OEM and carrier techinical community through participation in industry technical working groups, forums and trade events.

 

Antenna Selection and Placement. Our engineers select several antennas that are best suited for the particular application based on a large stable of existing antenna designs from previous efforts, modifications to these prior designs as well as new, full custom designs for particular devices. Together with the industrial design of the product, the engineer also selects candidate placements that are used in the initial simulation and placement phase. Our extensive experience in this step narrows the possible solutions to only the most promising candidates for detailed simulation and measurement.

 

Simulation and Initial Testing. When we engage in the early stages of a program before prototype tooling is available, we use 3D CAD models and physical mockups of the device to simulate and measure these interactions. When the project progresses to the prototype stage, we test actual prototype devices to generate even more accurate measurements. While many of our competitors select a final antenna based on RF chambers testing, we proceed with a critical further step and measure actual system level performance of the device in an iterative process to optimize performance.

 

Over-the-Air Throughput Testing. We have developed a set of proprietary performance metrics, measurement methodologies, and automated test conditions to help enable accurate and repeatable characterization of the relative OTA performance of 802.11-based WLAN devices such as routers, gateways, and set-top boxes. Our benchmark testing provides an accurate assessment of the performance characteristics for devices to enable manufacturers to make informed decisions in selecting the best antenna solution for their needs. This iteration also considers firmware stability, system noise, and interference, as well as antenna performance, to provide a throughput optimized solution.

 

Final Integration. A final design review is conducted to evaluate the design for manufacturability. Mounting methods are reviewed for ruggedness and ease of assembly in volume production. Fine tuning of the cable routing, antenna parameters and other features of the design are then reviewed before releasing the design.

 

Validation and Reporting. Upon completion of the design, a summary report is provided detailing the antenna selection, overall performance results and key observations, integration recommendations and detailed test results for each wireless system characterized. As the design moves to production, our product integration engineers serve as the technical interface between the antenna design team and the customer’s production team to validate and ensure product quality and reliability during high volume manufacturing.

Technology Benefits

We continuously strive to remain at the forefront of wireless technologies. We work closely with leading wireless chipset manufacturers, carriers and OEM’s on the cutting edge of new wireless technology introduction, while we continue to focus on extending our core competencies in product innovation, quality, integration and OTA performance verification processes, helping to ensure we continue to deliver on our promise of optimal antenna system performance.

Benefits to our Customers

We have developed strong relationships with leading WLAN chipset vendors, OEMs, and key service providers, keeping us at the forefront of new developments in wireless technologies and industry requirements. We share our expertise with customers in several areas including design, engineering, and testing, and provide insights based on years of experience across hundreds of devices. By harnessing our specialized experience and expertise,

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we offer solutions that can improve our customers’ product performance, reduce their staff costs and allow our customers to focus on non-antenna related factors in the face of short design, engineering and production windows. Rather than rely upon a captive engineering group that only works on in-house opportunities, we act as an outsourced antenna design, engineering, and test group for our customers.

We also bring years of experience in delivering high performance, ultra-reliable wireless connectivity for mobile, fleet, and industrial IoT and machine-to-machine, or M2M, applications. Designed for all environments, our broad range of multi-band products support a variety of applications from kiosk and ATM connectivity to government and public safety fleet applications.

Benefits to Wireless Users

By focusing on performance, we strive to improve product satisfaction with customers. Often, competing makers of wireless devices use chips that are made by the same semiconductor manufacturer. Antenna reliability depends on numerous factors including material, mount position, physical connection and resistance to oxidation. However, the selection and placement of an antenna, or antennas, can change the performance characteristics measurably. Each sale of an antenna solution is customized according to the needs and requirements of the customer. Tradeoffs exist on placement, power, price, and other variables. By focusing on performance, we challenge our engineers to deliver the optimal solution given the customer’s product constraints. This commitment to performance has established us as one of the recognized leaders in the design, testing, and performance of wireless systems, and led to what we believe is one of the broadest blue-chip customer lists in the industry.

Products

Our antennas are found in a broad range of applications and end-user devices that are deployed in carrier, fleet, enterprise, residential, private, government, and public safety wireless networks and systems, including set-top boxes, access points, routers, modems, gateways, media adapters, portables, digital televisions, sensors, and fleet and asset tracking devices. Our products have been adopted by some of the world’s leading telecom manufacturers and networking companies and are now being used by millions of carrier subscribers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific. We offer several product categories designed to maximize the performance of wireless devices while providing cost and design flexibility:

 

MaxBeamTM Embedded Antennas. MaxBeam high gain antennas utilize patented technology to deliver up to double the signal strength than conventional antenna solutions. The superior performance is derived by combining the benefits of directional antenna elements with high isolation between each beam. Each antenna utilizes mixed material, multi-element assemblies to provide optimal performance and turnkey integration. The MaxBeam antenna family offers maximum coverage designed for WLAN and Cellular/LTE frequency bands.

 

Profile Embedded Antennas. Profile Embedded Antennas feature highly efficient printed circuit board, or PCB, based solutions offering low profile designs optimized for confined industrial designs. Ideal for embedded applications requiring integration flexibility, the Profile family includes case, through- hole, and SMT mount designs and is available in single, dual, and triband applications. Our Profile Embedded Antenna family features four new designs targeting Wi-Fi 6 wireless system design challenges and are designed to enable tailored performance characteristics to meet the needs of any Wi-Fi 6 implementation. These antennas, including the Q Series, X Series, H Series and Q6 Series are designed to help enable us to deliver market-leading antenna integration and OEM design support for complex Wi-Fi 6 carrier gateways and access points.

 

Profile Contour Embedded Antennas. Profile Contour Embedded line utilizes Flexible Printed Circuit Board, or FPC, providing performance with device integration flexibility. Flexible and very low profile, these antennas can conform to many two-dimensional shapes making them ideal for integration within curved enclosures and wearable devices. Profile Contour antennas are supplied pre-fitted with adhesive tape for ease of integration.

 

Ultra Embedded Antennas. The Ultra line of embedded antennas has been designed for lower cost, embedded applications. These stamped metal designs allow for rapid customization and tuning to each device, making them ideal for embedded applications requiring integration flexibility. Ideal for high volume applications, these antennas utilize superior materials and plating for optimal performance.

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OmniMax High Performance External Antennas. Our external dipole antennas are designed for indoor and outdoor WLAN, cellular and LPWAN applications. With an extensive variety of single and dual-band designs available, this family of dipoles offers superior performance and flexible mounting options for various deployment scenarios. Our dipole antennas are available in 2.4 and 5GHz bands supporting Wi-Fi frequencies, as well as wideband 700MHz to 2.7GHz for global cellular and 4G applications, 3.3 to 4.2GHz for sub 6GHz 5G applications, and ISM band, or industrial, scientific, and medical radio, which includes 868 to 928MHz for international unlicensed LPWAN applications.

 

MaxBeam Carrier Class Antennas. These are a series of multi-band LTE and WLAN antennas for small cell systems including femtocells, picocells, and Wi-Fi hotspots, backhaul and community systems. These embedded antennas are designed to provide increased range and coverage for indoor or outdoor applications that demand carrier-grade service levels.

 

SmartMaxTM Embedded Antennas. These chipset agnostic smart antennas utilize dynamic spatial and polarity selection, providing optimal throughput performance and coverage for 802.11ac Wi-Fi systems. Designed for set-top-box, gateway, and smart HDTV deployments, SmartMax improves spatial correlation among received signals, producing a significant improvement in the performance of MIMO systems. SmartMax antennas require no dedicated connectivity to Wi-Fi chipset base-band circuits, minimizing the cost and complexity typically associated with Smart Antenna System integration.

 

Antenna Plus Antennas. Through the Antenna Plus brand, we offer a broad and expanding portfolio of automotive, fleet, public safety and M2M antennas.  Our high performance, low profile antennas are designed for many wireless standards and frequencies, including LTE with MIMO, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Dedicated Short Range Communications, or DSRC, and GPS/GNSS. Designed for all environments, our broad range of highly integrated and multi-band products support a variety of applications from kiosk and ATM connectivity to government and public safety applications. We have over 25 years of experience designing mission critical automotive fleet and mobile antenna applications. As the original inventor of the low profile cellular antenna, we are known for our market leading performance, quality, and long product life. Our antennas build on the best in class RF performance, leading design features, and extended operational life of our highly successful fleet and public safety antenna products connecting to almost any vehicular router or modem.

Design Partnerships

We have entered into joint development efforts with WLAN chipset vendors to collaborate on next-generation WLAN reference designs, where we jointly pursue the development of reference design platforms optimized for use with integrated embedded antenna systems. These WLAN reference designs are intended to provide ODMs with high-performance, embedded antenna solutions that provide consistent, measurable results and provide a path to reduced product development costs and cycle times.

Our collaborative relationships with 802.11 chipset vendors offer opportunities for market access and improved sales of both chipsets and antennas. Early access to chipset vendors’ offerings, including industrial design tradeoffs in enclosure, board layout and design, all offer chipset vendors the advantage of optimized performance in their reference designs. When our antennas are consequently listed in the reference bill of materials for the major chipset vendors’ products, these antennas become the default performance recommendation for all products utilizing that chipset. Ongoing contact with the OEM’s and ODM’s, along with default use of the reference bill of materials components specified by chipset vendors, generates a dependable flow of sales opportunities for us.

Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is centered around targeting three key markets, Consumer, Enterprise and Automotive. The following graphic provides a summary of the estimated total addressable market for each of these three markets. As highlighted in the graphic below, based on ABI Research and our internal ASP estimates, by 2022, we estimate a total addressable market to be in excess of $6.7 billion.

  

 

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The Consumer market has seen an explosion of automation services and broadband-connected devices, making the demand for increased bandwidth and reliable connectivity more critical than ever before. Within the carrier gateway and set-top box devices, the transition towards 802.11ac and 802.11ax (also called Wi-Fi 6) standard has now become a key market growth driver. The shift toward Gigabit Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 802.11ax is creating increased demand for our solutions as the number of antennas per device increases substantially. 802.11ax provides a theoretical ability to deliver speeds in excess of 14Gbps using 4x4 MIMO which is comparable to full duplex Docsis 3.1 and 5G bandwidths, resulting in wireless bandwidth delivery achieving parity with wireline speeds. Given the performance improvements over existing systems, service providers around the world are expediting their upgrade cycle towards higher performing consumer devices.

We continue to penetrate an increasing scope of adjacent residential wireless device applications such as home security, smart appliances, waterproof and solar outdoor wireless systems. We are also expanding our footprint in these markets through support of an increasing range of IoT wireless standards, such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Thread, NB-IoT and LoRa WAN. Our engineering team provides custom antenna solutions to support a variety of device constraints, including flexible antenna technology for curved and smaller form factors. We provide IP alarm and security camera solutions for one of the world’s leading providers of video surveillance products.  

In the Automotive market, the trend towards the ubiquitous connected car and the demand for increasingly complex aftermarket/fleet wireless connectivity solutions, are key growth drivers for us. Automakers are seeking to integrate a wide range of radio access technologies to support connected vehicles, from 2G and 3G for light, telematics-based connectivity, to LTE – leading to 5G, and Wi-Fi for heavy infotainment use, and DSRC for safety applications such as collision avoidance. Other standards such as 802.11p will play a role in vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, and vehicle-to-everything, or V2X, communications, while GPS will remain a basic requirement for vehicle location tracking and navigation.  The automotive segment has six distinct product categories, including mobility management, vehicle management, entertainment, safety, drive assistance, and well-being. Many of these categories can be particularly useful to owners of vehicle fleets, such as company and service vehicles, as well as companies in the car-rental and car-sharing industries. Although many of the technologies needed to support these functions are already established, the number of fleet sales in this segment is expected to grow. Connected cars require internal and external antennas for a complete wireless solution. We have a leading portfolio of automotive antenna connectivity solutions, from embedded solutions for OBD II, IHU and connected car gateways, to custom shark fin antennas for automotive OEM’s, and high-quality antenna products for mobile and automotive fleet applications for government, public safety, and enterprise applications.

In the Enterprise market we see growth potential across multiple product categories and applications. These include outdoor stadium and arena deployments, in-building coverage for commercial applications, kiosks, asset tracking, and Industrial IoT. According to ABI Research, enterprise access point shipments are estimated to reach 16.5 million per year by 2023.  In the connected smart home and city IoT sub-segments, we see embedded and external connectivity solutions for LPWAN, such as NB-IoT and LoRa for multiple applications. This includes security and asset tracking applications. In the M2M and IoT Infrastructure sub-segment serviced by our Antenna Plus brand of products, typical applications include in-building, out-building, and on-building connectivity solutions for commercial, retail, and office, outdoor kiosk, signage, and fixed asset connectivity and tracking. According to

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ABI research, by 2023, there will be approximately 12 million new M2M wireless modem shipments per year, up from approximately six million new modem shipments in 2018.

We also develop multi-band LTE and WLAN antennas for small cell enterprise systems that includes femto cells, pico cells, Wi-Fi hotspots, and community Wi-Fi systems. Our solutions provide increased range and coverage for both indoor and outdoor applications. Additionally, our small cell antenna designs provide high gain and high-performance solutions for multi-frequency and multi-mode network deployments. This includes several designs based on our patented smart antenna technology that delivers increased coverage and operation stability.

We offer a comprehensive set of services for single and multi-client Wi-Fi performance testing, characterization, and validation for wireless devices utilizing advanced MIMO configurations and technologies including WLAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Z-Wave, LoRa, CBRS, and more. Our service offering includes early stage system design, custom engineering support, and superior OTA testing services for service providers and OEMs. Our proprietary OTA testing process has established itself as an industry leader in wireless throughput enabling our service offering to create stickiness with customers as they depend on our testing services. We believe there is significant potential for growth of our service offering revenue, including through renewable service provider service contracts, and to further leverage this offering to customers and applications in adjacent markets.

Over the next several years, we believe the adoption of 5G on a global basis will offer incremental growth opportunities for us. According to ABI Research, 25% of network traffic will be 5G by 2023.  5G antenna systems are more complex as they need to support complex active architectures for new configurations such as active MIMO, and new frequency ranges in the sub-6GHz and mmWave, or millimeter wave, frequency bands. This shift in antenna complexity favors us, since complexity implies an opportunity to provide increased value to our customers along with increasing opportunity to differentiate based on technical merit and performance.  

The adoption of 5G will require antenna solutions for small cell indoor and outdoor, fixed wireless access, and mmW backhaul. Furthermore, highly integrated and complex designs demanded by 5G will require closer coordination between the ecosystem of component vendors, OEMs and Chipset Vendors, a key strength of ours.

In the United States we have a strong position with service providers and carriers that supply in-home residential wireless equipment. That said, we believe there are growth opportunities on the international front. This includes Europe, especially in areas of the connected home and automotive OEM markets will offer meaningful opportunities.

Our mission is to be a leading supplier of smart, embedded and external antennas to the expanding wireless device and systems marketplace. The key elements of our strategy are listed below.

 

Expand our customer base within our core markets. We sold our products in 2018 to approximately 91 end-customers. Although the customers that pay for our products are often ODMs and distributors, it is primarily the OEMs, carriers and retail-focused end-customers that drive the selection of our solutions.

 

Increase our sales to existing customers. Within our customer base, we offer solutions that are valued for performance and reliability. In many cases we are providing antenna solutions for an isolated subset of our customer’s wireless product portfolios. We plan to initiate targeted marketing campaigns to expand our solutions footprint—effectively to mine our existing customer base more effectively to expand our revenue on a per customer basis.

 

Innovate into new products and markets. Trends such as the IoT are driving an explosion of demand for wireless connectivity in new applications in and out of the home, including connected vehicles. Our technology and solutions are well suited to the majority of these high growth potential new markets. We also see new opportunities in M2M communications, LTE, Near Field Communications, Identification and Tracking via Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, Personal Area Networks such as 5G, Wi-Fi 6, ZigBee, Z-Wave, LoRa or Bluetooth, and other wireless communications methods and applications.

 

Focus on system performance and products with long lifecycles. Our antenna solutions are typically integrated into customers’ products at the design stage. Once an equipment manufacturer designs our antennas into its product offering, it becomes difficult to design us out of a device because changing antenna suppliers involves significant cost, time, effort, and usually re-certification of products. This is

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especially valuable in the service provider market, where product generations generally ship for two to three years before displacement by next-generation devices.

 

Acquire complementary technologies, assets and companies. The market for antenna solutions is diverse and fragmented. Opportunities arise for acquisition of technologies, assets and companies that would complement our business. We continue to consider acquisitions that will enable us to improve our strategic position and to take advantage of economies of scale through consolidation.

 

Customers

Our customers are global. The substantial majority of our sales are to ODMs and distributors based in China. However, for the year ended December 31, 2018, approximately 54% of the end-customers of our products, based on sales, were in North America and 46% were outside of North America. In addition, our top two customers, Synnex Technology International (HK) Ltd. and Syntech Asia Ltd., accounted for approximately 36% and 8% of our sales, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2018. We generally work with Engineering, Product Management, Product Line Management, Product Marketing, Design, and similar groups to provide antenna solutions. While the sale of the product may be to an OEM or ODM, we also consider our customers to include chipset vendors and service providers. We market our design capabilities directly to chipset vendors and service providers to generate demand.

 

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). We sell our products to OEM customers worldwide. These customers make many products including Wi-Fi access points and repeaters, set-top boxes, video gateways, and other wireless equipment found in homes, schools, businesses, and networks. Typically, these customers work with us to help overcome a specific performance issue, or to improve product performance against internal or external benchmarks. OEMs are also often mandated by service providers to select us.

 

ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). We sell our products to ODM customers worldwide with the vast majority being headquartered in Asia. These customers make many of the same products as the OEM customers, but they make these for sale to an OEM or service provider customer. Generally, ODM customers do not own all of the rights to the design and engineering assets of the products they produce and deliver. Historically, ODMs have been thought to focus primarily on cost; however, our ODM customers also emphasize performance and design flexibility when working on antenna selection and placement.

 

Chipset Vendors. We sell small quantities of our products directly to chipset vendors for their reference designs. Through our close working relationships with the leading chipset makers for the WLAN we have developed a significant level of expertise in the testing and evaluation of chipset reference designs and systems. Chipset vendors and Semiconductor manufacturers work with us to promote better integration and improved performance, and to create optimal reference designs. These customers help influence purchasing decisions with OEM and ODMs as their reference designs and associated Bills of Materials (BoM’s) and suppliers are usually closely replicated in production designs. This can also improve time-to-market for OEM and ODM customers.

 

Service Providers. We do not sell antennas directly to telecommunications and broadband service providers, but these companies often specify overall product performance, and sometimes use our wireless test and validation services. By working with the service providers, we are often written into the carrier’s specifications, which are sent to the OEM or ODM. Our antenna products are then shipped directly from our contract manufacturers to the device manufacturer. In doing so, we can have an impact on an OEM’s or ODM’s ability to hit certain performance levels. We have worked with service providers, and in some cases, we have sold testing equipment that mirrors the testing equipment and environment we use internally.

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Value Added Reseller (VARs) and Distributors. These partners combine our antenna products with other devices and services including vehicular modems, to deliver complete integrated and installed aftermarket solutions to end customers.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing organizations work together closely to improve market awareness, build a strong sales pipeline, and cultivate ongoing customer relationships to drive sales growth.

Sales

We sell our products to OEMs, ODMs, carriers and through manufactures for retail. Our global sales effort consists of direct and indirect sales teams, and indirect channel partners. Our direct sales team consists of inside sales personnel based in China and Taiwan and our outside field sales teams based in United States, Europe, Korea, China, and Taiwan. Our outside field sales teams consist of business, sales, account, technical marketing and program managers, and field application engineers, or FAEs. Our indirect channel partners consist of distributors, engineering design companies and outside sales representatives.

Our outside sales team is engaged in pre-sales, account management, and creating partnership opportunities with third parties such as service providers and semiconductor manufacturers. They are assigned quotas and have defined sales territories and/or accounts. The sales process includes meeting and qualifying potential programs and customers, and actively managing the planning stage of devices they plan to bring to market.  Our FAEs assist these managers by providing technical support to existing customers.

Our indirect channel partners provide lead generation, pre-sales support, product fulfillment and, in certain circumstances, post-sales customer service and support. This channel partner network often co-sells with our inside sales and field sales teams. Our channel provides us with additional sales leverage by sourcing new prospects, providing technical support to existing customers, upselling for additional use cases and daily indexing capacities, and maintaining repeat business with existing customers. These channels provide added coverage to customers and prospects we cannot reach directly. The percentage of our sales from indirect channel partners was 27%, 24% and 23% for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  

Marketing

Our marketing strategy is focused on building market awareness and acceptance of our products, and promoting our brand. We market our products directly to both prospective and existing customers. The marketing department is engaged in product management, product marketing, program management, corporate marketing, tradeshows and public speaking, development of our website and collateral material, and creating partnership opportunities with third parties, such as service providers and semiconductor manufacturers. Marketing emphasizes our competitive strengths and provides input into the future direction of product development and customer profiles.

Our primary marketing initiatives include trade shows, industry events, industry reputation, and publications, including white papers and trade journals. We strategically choose the location and focus of each trade show based on each show’s prospectus, reputation, and audience attendees, allocating marketing funds to support shows annually in North America, Asia, and Europe. These shows provide us with the opportunity to showcase our newest products and system designs, as well as set up meetings with current and potential OEM and ODM customers, carriers, and chipset manufacturers.

Competition

The embedded and external antenna market is highly competitive and is characterized by rapid technological change and evolving standards. Our principal competitors fall into three categories:

 

Direct competitors. Direct competitors include independent antenna companies, 2J Antennas USA Corp., Adant Technologies Inc., Asian Creation Communications Factory, AVX Corporation, Fractus S.A., Baylin Technologies Inc., Honglin Technology Group Ltd., Laird PLC, Mobile Mark, Inc.,

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PCTEL, Inc., Pinyon Technologies Inc., Sunwave Communications Co., Ltd., Taoglas Limited, Wanshih Electronic Co. Ltd., and WHA YU Industrial Co., Ltd., among others. In addition, the barriers to entry for the antenna industry are low, and we expect new competitors to emerge in the future.

 

In-house Antenna Design and Engineering Teams. Several of our existing customers, including ODMs which design and build complete wireless devices, also have internal resources to design, engineer, and produce antenna solutions. In such cases, we compete against the captive resource of that ODM. Several ODMs, including Arcadyan Technology Corporation, Foxconn Electronics Inc., Gemtek Technology Co. Ltd., and Wistron Corporation, design, manufacture, and sell antennas, in direct competition with us.

 

Third-Party Custom Design and Engineering Companies. Some of our existing customers and prospects use outsourced engineering services to provide antenna solutions. In these cases, there may be short-term or long-term contractors who work to design, engineer, test, and manage production of an antenna solution.

The principal competitive factors in our markets include:

 

Price and total cost of ownership as a result of reliability and performance issues;

 

Brand awareness and reputation;

 

Antenna performance, such as reliability, range, throughput;

 

Ability to integrate with other technology infrastructures;

 

Offerings across breadth of in-home wireless products;

 

Antenna design and testing capabilities;

 

Relationships with semiconductor/chipset vendors; and

 

Intellectual property portfolio.

We compete primarily based on antenna performance, our intellectual product portfolio, design and testing capabilities, and reputation. We believe we generally compete favorably on the basis of these factors. However, some of our existing and potential competitors may have advantages over us. Many of our competitors are significantly larger in scale than we are and have access to greater financial, technical, marketing, and other resources. In most instances, competition among these vendors creates some level of pricing pressure and forces us to lower prices below our established list prices. Many direct competitors compete based upon price, and some high-volume Asia-based competitors are prepared to operate at less than 20% gross product margins.

Manufacturing and Operations

We have limited manufacturing capability, solely with respect to antennas deployed in the fleet and M2M market. We do final assembly of these antenna products at our facility located in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we purchase raw materials, assemble, test, and ship products. We outsource the manufacturing for all of our other products to two principal contract manufacturers, or CMs, located in China. We work with these CMs to purchase raw materials, assemble, test, and ship our antenna products. We perform quality assurance and testing at our California facilities.

We maintain a close direct relationship with these manufacturers to help ensure supply and quality meet our requirements. Although the contract manufacturing services required to manufacture and assemble our products can be satisfied by one of our CMs or may be readily available from several established manufacturers, it may be time consuming and costly to qualify and implement new contract manufacturer relationships. If our CMs suffer an interruption in their businesses, or experiences delays, disruptions, or quality control problems in their manufacturing operations, or we otherwise have to change or add additional contract manufacturers or suppliers, our ability to ship products to our customers could be delayed, and our business adversely affected. The CMs manufacture antenna products according to our design specification, materials specification, quality standards, and delivery requirements. We have full control and authority over the selection of materials, manufacturing processes, and inspection processes.

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Research and Development

We invest considerable time and financial resources in research and development to enhance our antenna design and system integration capabilities and conduct quality assurance testing to improve our technology. Our engineering team consists of engineers located in research, design, and test centers in California, the United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan. Our engineering team actively participates in research and development activities to expand our capabilities and target applications for the Consumer, Enterprise and Automotive markets. We expect to continue to expand our product offerings and technology solutions in the future and to invest significantly in ongoing research and development efforts.

In the connected home, we are developing a series of antenna products for the home security market, including designs ranging from Z-Wave applications for door sensors to customized connectivity solutions for smart metering using LTE and LPWAN standards, and near field antenna modules enabling gigabit speed last meter connectivity for broadband operators.  We continue to architect and improve our antenna systems for our enterprise class smart antenna customers, as well as new high performance designs for the outdoor Wi-Fi and small cell markets. We continually review alternative antenna designs for increasingly complex carrier gateway products, which are expanding beyond just delivering Wi-Fi to also include 5G, ZigBee, Z-Wave, DECT, LPWAN, NB-IoT and Bluetooth applications. Finally, we are engaged in the design and evaluation of antenna systems for next generation 802.11ax technology, including reference designs with industry leading chipset vendors.

Seasonality

Our operating results historically have not been subject to significant seasonal variations. However, our operating results are affected by how customers make purchasing decisions around local holidays in China. For example, a national holiday the first week of October in China may cause customers to purchase product in the third quarter ahead of their holiday season to account for higher volume requirements in the fourth quarter. In addition, although it is difficult to make broad generalizations, our sales tend to be lower in the first quarter of each year compared to other quarters due to the Chinese New Year. Results for any quarter may not be indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full fiscal year and these patterns may change as a result of general customer demand or product cycles.

Intellectual Property

We rely on patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions to protect our technology. As of December 31, 2018, we had 175 issued U.S. patents covering our embedded and external antenna technology with expiration dates ranging from 2020 to 2033, and 46 patent applications pending for examination in the United States. We also have 24 issued patents and 3 pending patent applications for examination in non-U.S. jurisdictions (Europe, China and Japan) with expiration dates ranging from 2020 to 2037, which entail counterparts of U.S. utility patent applications. The patents consist of several broad areas, as summarized by the following four patent groups:

 

Methods of determining which antenna pattern to use;

 

Antenna pattern selection with multiple stations connected to access point;

 

Dynamically selected antennas for MIMO systems; and

 

Hardware implementations of switched directional antennas.

Taken together, these patents with priority dates as far back as November 2000, form both a barrier to competition and a licensable asset for customers in the MIMO arena.

Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our products or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. We generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, vendors and customers, and generally limit access to and distribution of our proprietary information. However, we cannot assure you that the steps taken by us will prevent misappropriation of our technology. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary

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rights to as great an extent as the laws of the United States, and many foreign countries do not enforce these laws as diligently as government agencies and private parties in the United States.

Our industry is characterized by the existence of many patents and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. In particular, leading companies in the technology industry have extensive patent portfolios. Third parties, including certain of these leading companies, may in the future assert patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights against us, our channel partners or our customers.

Employees

As of December 31, 2018, we had approximately 86 employees in the United States, 4 in the United Kingdom and 28 in China. Among the total 118 employees, 48 of them were primarily engaged in research and development, 24 of them were primarily engaged in sales and marketing and 46 of them were primarily engaged in operations and general and administration functions. In addition, we contract directly with engineers and sales contractors domestically and internationally. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement or represented by a labor union. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good.

Available Information

We file electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We make available on our website at www.airgain.com, free of charge, copies of these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The public may read or copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is www.sec.gov. The information in or accessible through the SEC and our website are not incorporated into, and are not considered part of, this filing. Further, our references to the URLs for these websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.

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ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with the other information contained in this annual report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before making a decision to purchase or sell shares of our common stock. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. These risks could have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations or financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

The markets for our antenna products is developing and may not develop as we expect.

The wireless industry is developing and the markets for our antenna products may not develop as we expect. It is difficult to predict customer adoption rates, customer demand for our antennas, the size and growth rate of our target markets, the entry of competitive products, or the success of existing competitive products. Any expansion in our markets depends on several factors, including the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our antennas. If our antenna products do not achieve widespread adoption or there is a reduction in demand for antennas in our markets caused by a lack of customer acceptance, technological challenges, competing technologies and products, decreases in corporate spending, weakening economic conditions, or otherwise, it could result in reduced customer orders, early order cancellations, or decreased sales, any of which would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or our guidance.

Our quarterly and annual operating results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate significantly in the future, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. The timing and size of sales of our products are variable and difficult to predict and can result in fluctuations in our net sales from period to period. In addition, our budgeted expense levels depend in part on our expectations of future sales. Because any substantial adjustment to expenses to account for lower levels of sales is difficult and takes time, we may not be able to reduce our costs sufficiently to compensate for an unexpected shortfall in net sales, and even a small shortfall in net sales could disproportionately and adversely affect our operating margin and operating results for a given quarter.

Our operating results may also fluctuate due to a variety of other factors, many of which are outside of our control, including the changing and volatile U.S., European, Asian and global economic environments, and any of which may cause our stock price to fluctuate. Besides the other risks in this “Risk Factors” section, factors that may affect our operating results include:

 

fluctuations in demand for our products and services;

 

the inherent complexity, length and associated unpredictability of product development windows and product lifecycles;

 

the timing and extent of investment in our targeted growth markets and the timing and amount of sales in such markets;

 

changes in customers’ budgets for technology purchases and delays in their purchasing cycles;

 

seasonal fluctuations around local holidays in China affecting how customers make purchasing decisions;

 

changing market conditions;

 

any significant changes in the competitive dynamics of our markets, including new entrants, or further consolidation; the timing of product releases or upgrades by us or by our competitors; and

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our ability to develop, introduce and ship in a timely manner new products and product enhancements and anticipate future market demands that meet our customers’ requirements.

For example, the slower than expected rollouts of our customers 802.11ac, 802.11ax and DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade cycles in 2018 shifted the timing of our product sales, and such future deployment delays could also affect our quarterly operating results.  The cumulative effects of the factors above could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our past results as an indication of future performance.

Our products are subject to intense competition, including competition from the customers to whom we sell.

Antenna solutions is an established technical field with low intellectual property and technological barriers to entry. Antenna competition exists globally for all areas of our business and product lines. The markets in which we compete are intensely competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future from established competitors and new market entrants. The markets are influenced by, among others, brand awareness and reputation, price, strength and scale of sales and marketing efforts, professional services and customer support, product features, reliability and performance, scalability of products, and breadth of product offerings. Due to the proprietary nature of some of our products, competition occurs primarily at the design stage. As a result, a design win by our competitors or by us typically limits further competition regarding that design. This competition could result in increased pricing pressure, reduced profit margins, increased sales and marketing expenses and failure to increase, or the loss of, market share, any of which would likely seriously harm our business, operating results or financial condition. From a cost and control perspective, our products generally cost more than our competitors’ products. If our ability to design antenna solutions is deemed to be on par or of lesser value than competing solutions, we could lose our customers and prospects.

New entrants and the introduction of other distribution models in our markets may harm our competitive position.

The markets for development, distribution, and sale of our products are rapidly evolving. New entrants seeking to gain market share by introducing new technology and new products may make it more difficult for us to sell our products, and could create increased pricing pressure, reduced profit margins, increased sales and marketing expenses, or the loss of market share or expected market share, any of which may significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our future success depends on our ability to develop and successfully introduce new and enhanced products for the wireless market that meet the needs of our customers.

Our sales depend on our ability to anticipate our existing and prospective customers’ needs and develop products that address those needs. Our future success will depend on our ability to introduce new products for the wireless market, anticipate improvements and enhancements in wireless technology and wireless standards, and to develop products that are competitive in the rapidly changing wireless industry. Introduction of new products and product enhancements will require coordination of our efforts with those of our customers, suppliers, and manufacturers to rapidly achieve volume production. If we fail to coordinate these efforts, develop product enhancements or introduce new products that meet the needs of our customers as scheduled, our operating results will be materially and adversely affected and our business and prospects will be harmed. We cannot assure that product introductions will meet the anticipated release schedules or that our wireless products will be competitive in the market. Furthermore, given the emerging nature of the wireless market, there can be no assurance our products and technology will not be rendered obsolete by alternative or competing technologies.

Our business is characterized by short product development windows and short product lifecycles.

Our solutions are purchased and integrated by customers in the electronics industry. In many cases, the products that include our solutions are subject to short product development windows and short product lifecycles. In the case of the short product development window, we may be pressured to provide solutions that are the lowest

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in cost to be accepted. Customer pressure could force us to reduce our price to win designs with short development windows. Regarding short product lifecycles, we might provide up-front design and engineering work, but ultimately lose the design to a competitor, or even if we win the design, such design could be extremely short-lived due to our customers’ inability to sell the product in significant volume. Our up-front costs associated with a design can be significant, and if the sales volumes are inadequate due to lack of acceptance and/or short lifecycle, our financial performance will be impaired.

Any delays in our sales cycles could result in customers canceling purchases of our products.

Sales cycles for some of our products can be lengthy, often lasting several months to a year or longer. In addition, it can take additional time before a customer commences volume production of equipment that incorporates our products. Sales cycles can be lengthy for several reasons, including:

 

our OEM customers and carriers usually complete a lengthy technical evaluation of our products, over which we have no control, before placing a purchase order;

 

the commercial introduction of our products by OEM customers and carriers is typically limited during the initial release to evaluate product performance; and

 

the development and commercial introduction of products incorporating new technologies frequently are delayed.

A significant portion of our operating expense is relatively fixed and is based in large part on our forecasts of volume and timing of orders. The lengthy sales cycles make forecasting the volume and timing of product orders difficult. In addition, the delays inherent in lengthy sales cycles raise additional risks of customer decisions to cancel or change product phases. If customer cancellations or product changes were to occur, this could result in the loss of anticipated sales without sufficient time for us to reduce our operating expenses. In addition, although we currently do not maintain significant inventories, we may in the future establish significant inventory levels to meet forecasted future demand. If the forecasted demand does not materialize into purchase orders for these products, we may be required to write off our inventory balances or reduce the value of our inventory, based on a reduced sales price. A write off of the inventory, or a reduction in the inventory value due to a sales price reduction, could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.

We have a history of losses, and we may not be profitable in the future.

Before 2013, we had incurred net losses in each year since our inception. As a result, we had an accumulated deficit of $45.0 million at December 31, 2018. Because the market for our antenna products is rapidly evolving, it is difficult for us to predict our operating results. We expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we hire additional personnel, particularly in engineering, sales, and marketing, and continue to develop new antenna products to address new and evolving markets. In addition, as a public company we will incur additional significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. If our sales do not increase to offset these increases in our operating expenses, we may not be profitable in future periods. Our historical sales growth has been inconsistent and should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Any failure to sustain or increase our profitability consistently could cause the value of our common stock to materially decline.

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A limited number of customers and devices represent a significant portion of our sales. If we were to lose any of these customers or devices, our sales could decrease significantly.

Our top two customers, Synnex Technology International (HK) Ltd. and Syntech Asia Ltd., accounted for approximately 36% and 8% of sales for the year ended December 31, 2018, respectively, and 21% and 13% of sales for the year ended December 31, 2017, respectively. Although our top customers that pay for our products are often ODMs and distributors, it is primarily the OEMs, carrier customers and retail-focused end-customers that drive the use of our antenna solutions and the purchase by the ODMs and distributors of our antenna solutions. In addition, a few end-customer devices which incorporate our antenna products comprise a significant amount of our sales, and the discontinuation or modification of such devices may materially and adversely affect our sales and results of operations. Any significant loss of, or a significant reduction in purchases by, these other significant customers or customers that drive the use of our antenna solutions or a modification or discontinuation of a device which constitutes a significant portion of sales could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.

We sell to customers who are extremely price conscious.

Our customers compete in segments of the electronics market. The electronics market is characterized by intense competition as companies strive to come to market with innovative designs that attract customers based upon design, performance, cost, ease of use, and convenience. Product lifecycles can be extremely short as companies try to gain advantage over their competitors. Because of the high design and engineering costs, companies that are customers or prospects for antenna solutions are extremely cost conscious. As a result, our customers and prospects demand price cuts in established products, and negotiate aggressively for lower pricing on new products. Because of the intense competition in the antenna solution market, we encounter situations that lead to difficult price negotiations potentially resulting in lower margins than forecast.

We generally rely on a limited number of contract manufacturers to produce and ship our products, and the failure to manage our relationships with these parties successfully could adversely affect our ability to market and sell our products.

We have limited manufacturing capability, solely with respect to antennas deployed in the fleet automotive market.  For all of our other products, we outsource the manufacturing, assembly and testing of products.  We rely on two contract manufacturers, which are both located in China, to manufacture, control quality of, and ship our products. We do not have long-term contracts with these manufacturers that commit them to manufacture products for us. Any significant change in our relationship with these manufacturers could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. We make substantially all of our purchases from our contract manufacturers on a purchase order basis. Our contract manufacturers are not required to manufacture our products for any specific period or in any specific quantity. We expect that it would take approximately six to nine months to transition manufacturing, quality assurance, and shipping services to new providers. Relying on contract manufacturers for manufacturing, quality assurance, and shipping also presents significant risks to us, including the inability of our contract manufacturers to:

 

qualify appropriate component suppliers;

 

manage capacity during periods of high demand;

 

meet delivery schedules;

 

assure the quality of our products;

 

ensure adequate supplies of materials;

 

protect our intellectual property; and

 

deliver finished products at agreed-upon prices.

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We manufacture products for our automotive market primarily in our facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona.  We may not be able to manufacture our products with consistent and satisfactory quality or in sufficient quantities to meet demand.  We also may experience delays or disruptions at our manufacturing facilities, which could result in delays of product shipments to our customers.  Any failure by us or our contract manufacturers to timely product products of satisfactory quality or in sufficient quantities in compliance with applicable laws could hurt our reputation, cause customers to cancel orders or refrain from placing new orders for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.  

We may experience delays in obtaining product from manufacturers and may not be a high priority for our manufacturers.

The ability and willingness of our contract manufacturers to perform is largely outside of our control. We believe that our orders may not represent a material portion of our contract manufacturers’ total orders and, as a result, fulfilling our orders may not be a priority if our contract manufacturers are constrained in their abilities or resources to fulfill all of their customer obligations in a timely manner. If any of our contract manufacturers suffers an interruption in its business, experiences delays, disruptions, or quality control problems in its manufacturing operations or we have to change or add additional contract manufacturers, our ability to ship products to our customers would be delayed and our sales could become volatile and our cost of sales may increase.

Our contract manufacturers purchase some components, subassemblies and products from a single or limited number of suppliers. The loss of any of these suppliers may substantially disrupt our ability to obtain orders and fulfill sales as we design in and qualify new components.

We rely on third-party components and technology to build and operate our products, and we rely on our contract manufacturers to obtain the components, subassemblies, and products necessary for the manufacture of certain of our products. Shortages in components we use in our products are possible, and our ability to predict the availability of such components is limited. If shortages occur in the future, as they have in the past, our business, operating results and financial condition would be materially adversely affected. Unpredictable price increases of such components due to market demand may occur. While components and supplies are generally available from a variety of sources, we and our contract manufacturers depend on a single or limited number of suppliers for several components for our products. If our suppliers of these components or technology were to enter into exclusive relationships with other providers of wireless networking equipment or were to discontinue providing such components and technology to us and we were unable to replace them cost effectively, or at all, our ability to provide our products would be impaired. Additionally, poor quality in any of the single or limited sourced components in our products could result in lost sales or lost sales opportunities. We and our contract manufacturers generally rely on purchase orders rather than long-term contracts with these suppliers. As a result, even if available, we and our contract manufacturers may not be able to secure sufficient components at reasonable prices or of acceptable quality to build our products in a timely manner. Therefore, we may be unable to meet customer demand for our products, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We rely significantly on channel partners to sell and support our products, and the failure of this channel to be effective could materially reduce our sales.

Our indirect channel partners, which include outside sales representatives, accounted for 27% of our sales in 2018 and 24% in 2017. We believe that establishing and maintaining successful relationships with these channel partners is, and will continue to be, important to our financial success. Recruiting and retaining qualified channel partners and training them in our technology and product offerings require significant time and resources. To develop and expand our channel, we must continue to scale and improve our processes and procedures that support our channel partners, including investment in systems and training.

Existing and future channel partners will only work with us if we are able to provide them with competitive products on terms that are commercially reasonable to them. If we fail to maintain the quality of our products or to update and enhance them, existing and future channel partners may elect to work instead with one or more of our competitors. In addition, the terms of our arrangements with our channel partners must be commercially reasonable for both parties. If we are unable to reach agreements that are beneficial to both parties, then our channel partner relationships will not succeed.

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We have no minimum purchase commitments with any of our channel partners, and our contracts with channel partners do not prohibit them from offering products or services that compete with ours, including products they currently offer or may develop in the future and incorporate into their own systems. Some of our competitors may have stronger relationships with our channel partners than we do and we have limited control, if any, as to whether those partners use our products, rather than our competitors’ products, or whether they devote resources to market and support our competitors’ products, rather than our offerings.

The reduction in or loss of sales by these channel partners could materially reduce our sales. If we fail to maintain relationships with our channel partners, fail to develop new relationships with other channel partners in new markets, fail to manage, train or incentivize existing channel partners effectively, fail to provide channel partners with competitive products on terms acceptable to them, or if these channel partners are not successful in their sales efforts, our sales may decrease and our operating results could suffer.

Defects in our products or poor design and engineering services could result in lost sales and subject us to substantial liability.

Our antenna solutions are a critical element in determining the operating performance of our customers’ products. If our antenna solutions perform poorly, whether due to design, engineering, placement or other reasons, we could lose sales. In certain cases, if our antenna solution is found to be the component that leads to failure or a failure to meet the performance specifications of our customer, we could be required to pay monetary damages to our customer. Real or perceived defects or errors in our antenna solutions could result in claims by channel partners and customers for losses they sustain. If channel partners or customers make these types of claims, we may be required, or may choose, for customer relations or other reasons, to expend additional resources to help correct the problem, including warranty and repair costs, process management costs and costs associated with remanufacturing our inventory. Liability provisions in our standard terms and conditions of sale may not be enforceable under some circumstances or may not fully or effectively protect us from claims and related liabilities and costs. In addition, regardless of the party at fault, errors of these kinds divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, damage our reputation and the reputation of our products, cause significant customer relations problems and can result in product liability claims. We maintain insurance to protect against certain types of claims associated with the use of our products, but our insurance coverage may not adequately cover any such claims. In addition, even claims that ultimately are unsuccessful could result in expenditures of funds in connection with litigation and divert management’s time and other resources. We also may incur costs and expenses relating to a recall of one or more of our products.

The process of identifying recalled products that have been widely distributed may be lengthy and require significant resources, and we may incur significant replacement costs, contract damage claims from our customers and significant harm to our reputation. The occurrence of these problems could result in the delay or loss of market acceptance of our products and could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our recent management changes create uncertainties and could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

On May 2, 2018, Charles Myers resigned as Chief Executive Officer, President and as a member of our board of directors. James K. Sims, who is our Chairman, was appointed to serve as our interim Chief Executive Officer at that time.  On March 13, 2019, Mr. Sims was appointed as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  In addition, in April 2018, Glenn Selbo resigned as our Chief Operating Officer, and in March 2018 Anil Dordla succeeded Leo Johnson as our Chief Financial Officer.  As a result of these management changes, we may experience disruption or have difficulty in maintaining or developing our business.  We face significant competition for new executives, and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement for members of our senior management that we may lose in the future, and our business may be harmed as a result.  Our ability to effectively manage our business and execute on our business strategy may be adversely affected by the uncertainty associated with these recent management changes.  

Executive leadership transitions can be inherently difficult to manage and may cause disruption to our business.  As a result of the recent changes in our management team, our existing management team has taken on substantially more responsibility, which has resulted in greater workload demands and could divert their attention

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away from certain key areas of our business.  In addition, management transition inherently causes some loss of institutional knowledge, which can negatively affect strategy and execution, and our results of operations and financial condition could suffer as a result.  The loss of services of one or more other members of senior management could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.  

The loss of key personnel or an inability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel may impair our ability to expand our business.

Our success depends upon the continued service and performance of our senior management team and key technical, marketing and production personnel, including James K. Sims, who is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, and Jacob Suen, who is our President. The replacement of any members of our senior management team or other key employees or consultants likely would involve significant time and costs and may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives.

Our future success also depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract, integrate and retain highly skilled personnel. Competition for highly skilled personnel is frequently intense. Any difficulties in obtaining or retaining human resource competencies we need to achieve our business objectives may have an adverse effect on our performance.

We are subject to the risk that third-party consultants will not perform their tasks effectively and that we will be unsuccessful in operating our business as a result.

We rely on third parties, such as a sales consultants and engineering contractors, for a portion of the design and sales and marketing of our products. The engineering contractors typically work directly with our design team but are employed by our contract manufacturers in China. We rely on these third parties in addition to our own employees to perform the daily tasks necessary to operate our business in these areas and cannot ensure that third-party consultants will be able to complete their work for us in a timely manner. Accordingly, our reliance on third parties exposes us to the risk that our business will be unsuccessful if they do not design and sell our product as expected.

Our acquisitions expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition, and cash flows.

As part of our strategy to develop and identify new products, services and technologies, we have made, and may continue to make, acquisitions of select assets and businesses. For example, we acquired certain North American assets from Skycross, Inc., in December 2015 and in April 2017 we acquired the Antenna Plus assets. When pursuing acquisitions, we may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete such acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. Any acquisitions we complete, may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve our goals, and could be viewed negatively by our end-customers, investors and financial analysts. Acquisitions involve many risks. An acquisition may negatively affect our operating results, financial condition or cash flows because it may require us to incur charges or assume substantial debt or other liabilities, may cause adverse tax consequences or unfavorable accounting treatment, may expose us to claims and disputes by third parties, including intellectual property claims and disputes, or may not generate sufficient financial return to offset additional costs and expenses related to the acquisition.

Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and damage our reputation.

We may become party to litigation claims and legal proceedings. Litigation involves significant risks, uncertainties and costs, including distraction of management attention away from our current business operations. We evaluate litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. We caution you that actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from those envisioned by our current estimates. Our policies and procedures require strict compliance by our employees and agents with all United States and local laws and regulations applicable to our business operations, including those prohibiting improper payments to government officials. Nonetheless, there can be no assurance that our policies and procedures will always ensure full compliance by our employees and agents with all

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applicable legal requirements. Improper conduct by our employees or agents could damage our reputation in the United States and internationally or lead to litigation or legal proceedings that could result in civil or criminal penalties, including substantial monetary fines, as well as disgorgement of profits.

Recent U.S. tax legislation may materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the 2017 Tax Act, was enacted.  The 2017 Tax Act makes broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code, including, but not limited to, reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and permitting immediate expensing of certain capital expenditures.  Many of these changes are effective immediately, without any transition periods or grandfathering for existing transactions. The legislation is unclear in many respects and could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, as well as interpretations and implementing regulations by the Treasury and IRS, any of which could lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. In addition, it is unclear how these U.S. federal income tax changes will affect state and local taxation, which often uses federal taxable income as a starting point for computing state and local tax liabilities.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and credits to offset future taxable income for U.S. federal income tax purposes may be subject to limitations, and future transfers of shares of our common stock, could cause us to experience an “ownership change” that could limit our ability to utilize our net operating losses.  

Under U.S. federal income tax law, a corporation’s ability to utilize its net operating losses, or NOL’s, to offset future taxable income may be significantly limited if it experiences an “ownership change” as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code.  In general, an ownership change will occur if there is a cumulative change in a corporation’s ownership by “5 percent shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period.

A corporation that experiences an ownership change will generally be subject to an annual limitation on its pre-ownership change NOLs equal to the value of the corporation immediately before the ownership change, multiplied by the long-term tax-exempt rate (subject to certain adjustments).  The annual limitation for a taxable year is generally increased by the amount of any “recognized built-in gains” for such a year and the amount of any unused annual limitation in a prior year.

In May 2014, we completed an analysis that determined we had not undergone an ownership change.  We believe however, that our initial public offering that occurred during 2016 may have triggered an ownership change.  However, based on our value at the ownership change date, we believe that the limitation would not ultimately limit the amount of the net operating losses and credits that could be used prior to their expiration.

In addition, under the 2017 Tax Act, although the treatment of tax losses generated before December 31, 2017 has generally not changed, tax losses generated in calendar year 2018 and beyond may only offset 80% of our taxable income. This change may require us to pay federal income taxes in future years despite generating a loss for federal income tax purposes in prior years. Any such limitations on the ability to use our NOLs and other tax assets could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our election to not opt out of the extended accounting transition period under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, may make our financial statements difficult to compare to other companies.

Under the JOBS Act, as an emerging growth company, we can elect to opt out of the extended transition period for any new or revised accounting standards. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period. This means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, are permitted to use any extended transition period for adoption that is provided in the new or revised accounting standard having different application dates for public and private companies. This may make the comparison of our financial statements with any other public company,

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which is not either an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period, difficult or impossible as possible different or revised standards may be used.

If we are unable to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, the accuracy and timeliness of our financial reporting may be adversely affected. In addition, because of our status as an emerging growth company, you will not be able to depend on any attestation from our independent registered public accounting firm as to our internal control over financial reporting for the foreseeable future.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and controls over financial reporting. In particular, we are required to perform system and process evaluations and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We are required to furnish a report by management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting beginning for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2017. However, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act until the date we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. Accordingly, you will not be able to depend on any attestation concerning our internal control over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm for the foreseeable future.

Compliance with environmental matters and worker health and safety laws could be costly, and noncompliance with these laws could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, expenses and financial condition.

Some of our operations use substances regulated under various federal, state, local and international laws governing the environment and worker health and safety, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the ground, air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Some of our products are subject to various federal, state, local and international laws governing chemical substances in electronic products. We could be subject to increased costs, fines, civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims if we violate or become liable under environmental and/or worker health and safety laws.

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, floods and other natural catastrophic events.

Our corporate headquarters are located in Southern California, and our two contract manufacturers are located in eastern Asia, both regions known for seismic activity. A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, a fire or a flood, occurring near our headquarters, or near the facilities of our contract manufacturers, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.

The terms of our amended and restated loan and security agreement place restrictions on our operating and financial flexibility. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, the terms of any new debt could further restrict our ability to operate our business.

We have a $10.0 million revolving credit facility and a $4.0 million growth capital term loan under our second amended and restated loan and security agreement with Silicon Valley Bank. These loans are secured by a lien covering substantially all of our properties, rights and assets, excluding intellectual property. As of December 31, 2018, the revolving credit facility was undrawn, and the outstanding principal balance of the growth capital term loan and the additional term loan was paid off.  The second amended and restated loan and security agreement contains customary affirmative and negative covenants and events of default applicable to us and any subsidiaries, if any. The affirmative covenants include, among others, covenants requiring us (and us to cause our subsidiaries) to maintain our legal existence and governmental approvals, deliver certain financial reports, maintain insurance coverage, keep inventory, if any, in good and marketable condition, maintain a liquidity ratio of cash and cash equivalents plus accounts receivable outstanding debt under the second amended and restated loan and security agreement minus deferred revenue of 1.25 to 1.00, and protect material intellectual property. The negative covenants include, among others, restrictions on us and our subsidiaries transferring collateral, incurring additional indebtedness, engaging in mergers or acquisitions, paying dividends or making other distributions, making investments, creating liens, selling assets and making any payment on subordinated debt, in each case subject to certain exceptions. If we default under the facility, the lender may accelerate all of our repayment obligations and

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take control of our pledged assets, potentially requiring us to renegotiate our agreement on terms less favorable to us or to immediately cease operations. Further, if we are liquidated, the lender’s right to repayment would be senior to the rights of the holders of our common stock to receive any proceeds from the liquidation. The lender could declare a default upon the occurrence of any event that it interprets as a material adverse effect as defined under the credit facility, thereby requiring us to repay the loan immediately or to attempt to reverse the declaration of default through negotiation or litigation. Any declaration by the lender of an event of default could significantly harm our business and prospects and could cause the price of our common stock to decline. If we raise any additional debt financing, the terms of such additional debt could further restrict our operating and financial flexibility.

If we are unable to manage our growth and expand our operations successfully, our business and operating results will be harmed and our reputation may be damaged.

We have expanded our operations significantly since inception and anticipate that further significant expansion will be required to achieve our business objectives. The growth and expansion of our business and product offerings places a continuous and significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources. Any such future growth would also add complexity to and require effective coordination throughout our organization. To date, we have used the services of third-parties to perform tasks including design and sales and marketing. Our growth strategy may entail expanding our group of contractors or consultants to implement these tasks going forward. Because we rely on consultants, effectively outsourcing key functions of our business, we will need to be able to manage these consultants to ensure that they successfully carry out their contractual obligations and meet expected deadlines. However, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our ability to provide quality products in a timely manner could be harmed, which may have a material adverse effect on our business operating results and financial condition.

To manage any future growth effectively, we must continue to improve and expand our information technology and financial infrastructure, our operating and administrative systems and controls, and our ability to manage headcount, capital and processes in an efficient manner. We may not be able to successfully implement improvements to these systems and processes in a timely or efficient manner, which could result in additional operating inefficiencies and could cause our costs to increase more than planned. If we do increase our operating expenses in anticipation of the growth of our business and this growth does not meet our expectations, our operating results may be negatively impacted. If we are unable to manage future expansion, our ability to provide high quality products and services could be harmed, which could damage our reputation and brand and may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business, operating results and growth rates may be adversely affected by current or future unfavorable economic and market conditions.

Our business depends on the economic health and general willingness of our current and prospective end- customers to make those capital commitments necessary to purchase our products. If the conditions in the U.S. and global economies remain uncertain or continue to be volatile, or if they deteriorate, our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. Economic weakness, end-customer financial difficulties, limited availability of credit and constrained capital spending have at times in the past resulted, and may in the future result, in challenging and delayed sales cycles, slower adoption of new technologies and increased price competition, and could negatively affect our ability to forecast future periods, which could result in an inability to satisfy demand for our products and a loss of market share.

In addition, if interest rates rise or foreign exchange rates weaken for our international customers, overall demand for our products and services could decline and related capital spending may be reduced. Furthermore, any increase in worldwide commodity prices may result in higher component prices for us and increased shipping costs, both of which may negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business and prospects depend on the strength of our market efforts and our brand. Failure to maintain and enhance our brand would harm our ability to maintain and expand our base of customers.

Maintaining and enhancing our brand is important to maintaining and expanding our base of customers who purchase our products. This will depend largely on our ability to continue to provide high-quality solutions, and we

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may not be able to do so effectively. While we may engage in a broader marketing campaign to further promote our brand, this effort may not succeed. Our efforts in developing our brand may be affected by the marketing efforts of our competitors. If we are unable to cost-effectively maintain and increase awareness of our brand, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed. Our brand may be impaired by other factors, including product malfunctions. Any inability to effectively police our trademark rights against unauthorized uses by third parties could adversely impact the value of our trademarks and our brand recognition. If we fail to maintain and enhance our brand, or if we need to incur unanticipated expenses to establish our brand in new markets, our operating results would be negatively affected from reduced sales and increased marketing expenses.

Risks Relating to Intellectual Property

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed or we could be required to incur significant expenses to enforce our rights.

Our ability to compete effectively is dependent in part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology. We rely on patents, trademarks, trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and licensing arrangements to protect our intellectual property rights. There can be no assurance these protections will be available in all cases or will be adequate to prevent our competitors from copying, reverse engineering or otherwise obtaining and using our technology, proprietary rights or products. For example, the laws of certain countries in which our products are manufactured or licensed do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. In addition, third parties may seek to challenge, invalidate or circumvent our patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, or applications for any of the foregoing. There can be no assurance that our competitors will not independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technology or design around our proprietary rights. In each case, our ability to compete could be significantly impaired. To prevent substantial unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights, it may be necessary to prosecute actions for infringement and/or misappropriation of our proprietary rights against third parties. Any such action could result in significant costs and diversion of our resources and management’s attention, and there can be no assurance we will be successful in such action. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights than we do. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property.

Claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property rights could harm our business.

Our industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights, which has resulted in protracted and expensive litigation for many companies. Third parties may in the future assert claims of infringement of intellectual property rights against us or against our customers or channel partners for which we may be liable. As the number of products and competitors in our market increases and overlaps occur, infringement claims may increase.

Intellectual property claims against us, and any resulting lawsuits, may result in our incurring significant expenses and could subject us to significant liability for damages and invalidate what we currently believe are our proprietary rights. Our involvement in any patent dispute or other intellectual property dispute or action to protect trade secrets and know-how could have a material adverse effect on our business. Adverse determinations in any litigation could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties and prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products. Any of these situations could have a material adverse effect on our business.

These claims, regardless of their merits or outcome, would likely be time consuming and expensive to resolve and could divert management’s time and attention.

We are generally obligated to indemnify our channel partners and end-customers for certain expenses and liabilities resulting from intellectual property infringement claims regarding our products, which could force us to incur substantial costs.

We have agreed, and expect to continue to agree, to indemnify our channel partners and end-customers for certain intellectual property infringement claims regarding our products. As a result, in the case of infringement

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claims against these channel partners and end-customers, we could be required to indemnify them for losses resulting from such claims or to refund amounts they have paid to us. Our channel partners and other end-customers in the future may seek indemnification from us in connection with infringement claims brought against them. We will evaluate each such request on a case-by-case basis and we may not succeed in refuting all such claims. If a channel partner or end-customer elects to invest resources in enforcing a claim for indemnification against us, we could incur significant costs disputing it. If we do not succeed in disputing it, we could face substantial liability.

 

Risks Related to Our International Operations

Our international sales and operations subject us to additional risks that can adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

The substantial majority of our sales are to ODMs and distributors based in China. For the year ended December 31, 2018, approximately 46% of the end-customers of our products, based on sales, are outside of North America, and we are continuing to expand our international operations as part of our growth strategy. We have limited sales personnel and sales and support operations in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Our ability to convince customers to expand their use of our antenna products is directly correlated to our direct engagement with our end-customers and our channel partners. To the extent we are unable to engage with non-U.S. customers effectively with our limited sales force capacity, we may be unable to grow sales to existing customers.

Our international operations subject us to a variety of risks and challenges, including: increased management, travel, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with having multiple international operations; reliance on channel partners; increased financial accounting and reporting burdens and complexities; compliance with foreign laws and regulations; compliance with U.S. laws and regulations for foreign operations; and reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries and practical difficulties of enforcing rights abroad. Any of these risks could adversely affect our international operations, reduce our international sales or increase our operating costs, adversely affecting our business, operating results and financial condition and growth prospects.

In addition, we are subject to risks related to regulation of exports and reexports of products, software or technology regulated under United States laws and regulations. In April 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security lifted its suspension of a denial of export privileges against Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation of Shenzhen China, or ZTE, and a second ZTE entity.  These restrictions were subsequently lifted in July 2018, but may be imposed in the future with little or no advance notice.  While the export ban applicable to ZTE has been lifted by the United States, there can be no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Commerce will not take future regulatory action that may materially interfere with our ability to make sales, particularly in China. Even without such action by the U.S. Department of Commerce, we would be prohibited from exporting our products to any foreign recipient if we have knowledge that a violation of U.S. export regulations has occurred, is about to occur, or is intended to occur in connection with the item.  The loss or temporary loss of such customers as a result of future regulatory limitation could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and affect our international sales strategy in China and elsewhere around the world.  

We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws.

Our products are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. Exports of our products must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations. If we violate these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges, fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers, and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers. In addition, if our channel partners, agents or consultants fail to obtain appropriate import, export or re-export licenses or authorizations, we may also be adversely affected through reputational harm and penalties. Obtaining the necessary authorizations, including any required license, for a particular sale may be time-consuming, is not guaranteed and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities.

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Changes in our products or changes in applicable export or import laws and regulations may also create delays in the introduction and sale of our products in international markets, prevent our end-customers with international operations from deploying our products or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. For example, as a result of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security lifting its suspension of a denial of export privileges against ZTE in April 2018, ZTE halted all future orders for antenna products we have previously been shipping to ZTE.  This lifting of the suspension will also likely prevent us from shipping new products to ZTE. Any change in export or import laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations, could also result in decreased use of our products, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to existing or potential end-customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our products or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would likely adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The results of the United Kingdom’s referendum on withdrawal from the European Union may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business.

In June 2016, a majority of voters in the United Kingdom elected to withdraw from the European Union in a national referendum. In March 2017, the United Kingdom formally notified the European Union of its intention to withdraw pursuant to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The referendum was advisory, and the terms of any withdrawal are subject to a negotiation period that could last until March 2019, and the terms of such withdrawal, if any, are still unresolved.  The referendum and the ensuing process of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union has created significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, including with respect to the laws and regulations that will apply as the United Kingdom determines which European Union laws to replace or replicate in the event of a withdrawal. The referendum has also given rise to calls for the governments of other European Union member states to consider withdrawal. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, have had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global market liquidity and restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets. Any of these factors could depress economic activity and restrict our access to capital and negatively affect our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and affect our strategy in the European market.

Changes to United States tax, tariff and import/export regulations may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business.

There have been significant changes and proposed changes to United States trade policies, treaties, tariffs and taxes, including trade policies and tariffs regarding China. For example, the United States has imposed tariffs of 10-25% on certain imports from China, as well as tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported from various other countries.  In response, China and other countries have imposed or proposed additional tariffs on certain exports from the United States. Although we do a significant amount of business in China, including dealing with Chinese suppliers and customers, only a limited number of our products use imported components that are covered under these recent policy changes, and we do not expect these tariffs to have a material impact on us. However, these and other proposed policy changes have created significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China, as well as other countries, including with respect to the trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs that could apply to trade with those countries. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, may have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global trade and, in particular, trade between these countries and the United States. Any of these factors could depress economic activity and restrict our access to suppliers or customers and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and affect our strategy in China and elsewhere around the world.

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New regulations or standards or changes in existing regulations or standards in the United States or internationally related to our end-customer’s products may result in unanticipated costs or liabilities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and future sales, and could place additional burdens on the operations of our business.

Our end-customers’ products are subject to governmental regulations in many jurisdictions. To achieve and maintain market acceptance, our end-customers’ products must continue to comply with these regulations and many industry standards. In the United States, our end-customers’ products must comply with various regulations defined by the Federal Communications Commission, Underwriters Laboratories and others. Our end-customers must also comply with similar international regulations.

As these regulations and standards evolve, and if new regulations or standards are implemented, our end-customers may have to modify their products. The failure of their products to comply, or delays in compliance, with the existing and evolving industry regulations and standards could prevent or delay introduction of our antennas used in their products, which could harm our business. End-customer uncertainty regarding future policies may also affect demand for communications products, including our products. Moreover, channel partners or customers may require us, or we may otherwise deem it necessary or advisable, to alter our products to address actual or anticipated changes in the regulatory environment. Our inability to alter our products to address these requirements and any regulatory changes may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

We could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws.

We operate in several foreign countries. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar anti-bribery laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Practices in the local business communities of many countries outside the United States have a level of government corruption that is greater than that found in the developed world. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws and we have established policies and procedures designed to monitor compliance with these anti-bribery law requirements; however, we cannot assure that our policies and procedures will protect us from potential reckless or criminal acts committed by individual employees or agents. If we are found to be liable for anti-bribery law violations, we could suffer from criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may be volatile.

The trading price of our common stock may be volatile and may fluctuate substantially in response to various factors. This may be especially true for companies with a small public float. Prior to our initial public offering, there was no public market for shares of our common stock. From August 12, 2016, the date that our common stock started trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market, through February 26, 2019, the trading price of our common stock has ranged from $7.31 per share to $29.30 per share. The trading price of our common stock depends on several factors, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this annual report, including:

 

price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

 

volatility in the market prices and trading volumes of technology stocks;

 

changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;

 

sales of shares of our common stock by us or our stockholders;

 

failure of financial analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

 

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections or our failure to meet those projections;

29


 

announcements by us or our competitors of new products or new or terminated significant contracts, commercial relationships or capital commitments;

 

the public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements and filings with the SEC;

 

rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

 

actual or anticipated changes in our operating results or fluctuations in our operating results;

 

actual or anticipated developments in our business or our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;

 

litigation involving us, our industry or both or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors;

 

developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

 

announced or completed acquisitions of businesses or technologies by us or our competitors;

 

new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;

 

changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles;

 

any major change in our management;

 

general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of our markets; and

 

other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events.

In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions or interest rate changes, may seriously affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.  The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K could have a dramatic and material adverse impact on the market price for our common stock.

In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market prices of particular companies’ securities, securities class action litigations have often been instituted against these companies. Litigation of this type, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources. Any adverse determination in any such litigation or any amounts paid to settle any such actual or threatened litigation could require that we make significant payments.

Our directors and principal stockholders own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.

As of March 13, 2019, our directors, executive officers and holders of more than 5% of our common stock, together with their affiliates, beneficially owned, in the aggregate, approximately 19.5% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, these stockholders, acting together, would be able to significantly influence and may be able to control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. In addition, these stockholders, acting together, would be able to significantly influence and may be able to control the ability to control the management and affairs of our company. Accordingly, this concentration of ownership might adversely affect the market price of our common stock by:

 

delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of the company;

 

impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination involving us; or

 

a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the company.

30


If securities or industry analysts issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We currently have limited research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If any of the analysts who may cover us change their recommendation regarding our common stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the trading price of our common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the trading price of our common stock or trading volume to decline.  

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Some of these provisions:

 

authorize our board of directors to issue, without further action by the stockholders, up to 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock and up to 200,000,000 shares of authorized common stock;

 

require that any action to be taken by our stockholders be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting and not by written consent;

 

specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our board of directors, the Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer or the President;

 

establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder approvals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors;

 

establish that our board of directors is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with each class serving staggered terms;

 

provide that our directors may be removed only for cause; and

 

provide that vacancies on our board of directors may, except as otherwise required by law, be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum.

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits the ability of stockholders owning in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock to merge or combine with us. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation specifies that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for most legal actions involving actions brought against us by stockholders. We believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law by chancellors particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought against us, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action.

These anti-takeover provisions and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to obtain control of our board of directors or initiate actions that are opposed by the then-current board of directors and could also delay or impede a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors of your choosing or cause us to take other corporate actions you desire. Any delay or prevention of a change of control transaction or changes in our board of directors could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

31


We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, our second amended and restated loan and security agreement with Silicon Valley Bank restricts our ability to pay cash dividends on our common stock without the prior written consent of Silicon Valley Bank, and we may also enter into credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements in the future that will restrict our ability to declare or pay cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to fund the growth of our business. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

An active trading market for our common stock may not be maintained.

Prior to our initial public offering in August 2016, there was not a public market for our common stock. Given the small size of our initial public offering, it may take some time for an active market to fully develop. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to maintain an active trading market for our shares. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair market value of your shares. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration.

Our inability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms in the future may limit our ability to develop and commercialize new solutions and technologies and expand our operations.

If our available cash balances anticipated cash flow from operations are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, including because of lower demand for our products as a result of other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this annual report, we may seek to raise additional capital through equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations or licensing arrangements. We may also consider raising additional capital in the future to expand our business, pursue strategic investments, take advantage of financing opportunities, or other reasons.

Additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to our stockholders could result. Any equity securities issued also may provide for rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock. The terms of debt securities issued or borrowings could impose significant restrictions on our operations. The incurrence of indebtedness or the issuance of certain equity securities could result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt or issue additional equity, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights, and other operating restrictions that could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business. In addition, the issuance of additional equity securities by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. If we do not have, or are not able to obtain, sufficient funds, we may have to delay development or commercialization of our products or license to third parties the rights to commercialize products or technologies that we would otherwise seek to commercialize. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our products, or to grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we are unable to raise adequate funds, we may have to liquidate some or all of our assets, or delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate some or all of our development programs. We also may have to reduce marketing, customer support or other resources devoted to our products or cease operations. Any of these actions could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

32


We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies but not to emerging growth companies, which includes, among other things:

 

exemption from the auditor attestation requirements under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;

 

reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements;

 

exemption from the requirements of holding non-binding stockholder votes on executive compensation arrangements; and

 

exemption from any rules requiring mandatory audit firm rotation and auditor discussion and analysis and, unless the SEC otherwise determines, any future audit rules that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

We could be an emerging growth company until December 31, 2021, which is the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary after our initial public offering, or until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have annual gross revenue of $1 billion or more, (ii) the date on which we have, during the previous three year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt or (iii) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the federal securities laws. We will qualify as a large accelerated filer as of the first day of the first fiscal year after we have (i) more than $700 million in outstanding common equity held by our non-affiliates and (ii) been public for at least 12 months. The value of our outstanding common equity will be measured each year on the last day of our second fiscal quarter.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to comply with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company. 

As a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an emerging growth company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting and corporate governance requirements, to comply with the rules and regulations imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives and our legal and accounting compliance costs will increase. It is likely that we will need to hire additional staff in the areas of investor relations, legal and accounting.  These new rules and regulations may make it more difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are evaluating and monitoring developments regarding these rules, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

33


For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. In particular, as a public company, we are required to perform system and process evaluations and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As described above, as an emerging growth company, we will not need to comply with the auditor attestation provisions of Section 404 for several years. Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. Our compliance with Section 404 will require that we incur substantial accounting expense and management time on compliance-related issues. Moreover, if we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could cause our stock price to decline.

When the available exemptions under the JOBS Act, as described above, cease to apply, we expect to incur additional expenses and devote increased management effort toward ensuring compliance with them. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur as a result of becoming a public company or the timing of such costs.

ITEM 1B.    UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters occupy approximately 10,300 square feet in San Diego, California, under a lease that expires in June 2020. We also lease a 4,300 square foot home facility and a 3,900 square foot home facility in Rancho Santa Fe, California and a 3,900 square foot home facility in Poway, California that are used as testing facilities. Additionally, we lease a manufacturing plant/facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.  In addition, we lease an office space in Melbourne, Florida and office buildings in five locations outside of the United States in Shenzhen, China, Jiangsu Province, China, Shulin City, Taiwan, Gyeonggi-do, Korea and Cambridge, United Kingdom. We believe our facilities are suitable and sufficient to meet our current operating needs. We intend to add new facilities as we hire new employees, and we believe that the current headquarters in San Diego offers suitable additional space to accommodate such an expansion.

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

From time to time, we may be a party to legal proceedings and subject to claims incident in the ordinary course of business. Although the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we believe that the final outcome of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or business. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors.

ITEM 4.    MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

34


PART II

ITEM 5.    MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “AIRG”.

Holders of Common Stock

As of March 13, 2019, there were 10,029,281 shares of our common stock outstanding held by approximately 68 holders of record of our common stock. This number was derived from our shareholder records and does not include beneficial owners of our common stock whose shares are held in the name of various dealers, clearing agencies, banks, brokers and other fiduciaries.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Our second amended and restated loan and security agreement with Silicon Valley Bank restricts our ability to pay cash dividends on our common stock, and we may also enter into credit agreements or other borrowing arrangements in the future that will restrict our ability to declare or pay cash dividends on our common stock. Any future determination to declare dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

See Part III, Item 12, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters” for information regarding securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans.

 

Performance Graph

The information contained in this Performance Graph section shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Airgain, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, or the Exchange Act.

35


The following graph shows a comparison from August 12, 2016, the date our common stock commenced trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market, through December 31, 2018 of cumulative total return for our common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P Information Technology Index. Such returns are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance. The graph assumes the investment of $100 on August 12, 2016 in our stock at the opening trading price of $8.00 and in the indices at the opening trading prices, with the reinvestment of dividends, although dividends have not been declared on our common stock.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

None.

Issuer Repurchases of Equity Securities

In August 2017, our board of directors approved a share repurchase program pursuant to which we may purchase up to $7.0 million of shares of our common stock over the twelve-month period following establishment of the program.  On August 7, 2018, the Board approved an extension to the existing share repurchase program for an additional twelve-month period ending August 7, 2019.  The repurchases under the share repurchase program are made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions and are funded from our working capital.  Repurchases will be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, subject to market conditions, available liquidity, cash flow, applicable legal requirements and other factors.  All shares of common stock repurchased under our share repurchase program will be returned to the status of authorized but unissued shares of common stock.

36


The following table sets forth our repurchases of equity securities for the three months ended December 31, 2018:

 

Fiscal Period

 

Total

Number of

Shares

Repurchased

 

 

Average

Price Paid

Per Share

 

 

Total

Number of

Shares

Purchased

As Part of a

Publicly

Announced

Program

 

 

Approximate

Dollar

Amount of

Shares That

May Yet be

Purchased

Under the

Program (1)

 

October 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 1, 2018 to November 31, 2018

 

 

6,000

 

 

 

13.02

 

 

 

334,523

 

 

 

3,827,747

 

December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018

 

 

22,791

 

 

 

11.38

 

 

 

357,314

 

 

 

3,568,470

 

Total during the three months ended December 31, 2018

 

 

80,991

 

 

$

11.72

 

 

 

357,314

 

 

$

3,568,470

 

 

(1)

As of December 31, 2018, we have repurchased shares of common stock having an aggregate value of $3,431,530.

 

ITEM 6.    SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables set forth our selected historical financial data for each of our last five fiscal years during the period ended December 31, 2018. We have derived the statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017, and 2016 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.   We have derived the statements of operations data for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 from our audited financial statements not included in this annual report.  The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this annual report. Our historical results for any prior period are not indicative of our future results.

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

2015

 

 

2014

 

Sales

 

$

60,625,212

 

 

$

49,521,171

 

 

$

43,433,867

 

 

$

27,793,073

 

 

$

25,509,572

 

Cost of goods sold

 

 

34,114,044

 

 

 

26,218,965

 

 

 

24,156,792

 

 

 

16,148,163

 

 

 

14,132,357

 

Gross profit

 

 

26,511,168

 

 

 

23,302,206

 

 

 

19,277,075

 

 

 

11,644,910

 

 

 

11,377,215

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

 

9,319,116

 

 

 

7,319,575

 

 

 

5,622,132

 

 

 

4,257,400

 

 

 

3,311,337

 

Sales and marketing

 

 

11,032,752

 

 

 

7,012,829

 

 

 

5,670,625

 

 

 

4,035,591

 

 

 

3,516,095

 

General and administrative

 

 

9,545,306

 

 

 

8,000,602

 

 

 

4,532,151

 

 

 

3,453,288

 

 

 

2,972,257

 

IPO costs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

229,332

 

 

 

726,926

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

29,897,174

 

 

 

22,333,006

 

 

 

15,824,908

 

 

 

11,975,611

 

 

 

10,526,615

 

Income (loss) from operations

 

 

(3,386,006

)

 

 

969,200

 

 

 

3,452,167

 

 

 

(330,701

)

 

 

850,600

 

Other income

 

 

(903,229

)

 

 

(197,740

)

 

 

(289,721

)

 

 

(60,981

)

 

 

(2,743,871

)

Income (loss) before income taxes

 

 

(2,482,777

)

 

 

1,166,940

 

 

 

3,741,888

 

 

 

(269,720

)

 

 

3,594,471

 

Provision for income taxes

 

 

101,543

 

 

 

25,685

 

 

 

8,181

 

 

 

622

 

 

 

6,171

 

Net income (loss)

 

 

(2,584,320

)

 

 

1,141,255

 

 

 

3,733,707

 

 

 

(270,342

)

 

 

3,588,300

 

Net income (loss) per share (1):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

$

(0.27

)

 

$

0.12

 

 

$

0.65

 

 

$

(4.17

)

 

$

2.08

 

Diluted

 

$

(0.27

)

 

$

0.11

 

 

$

0.40

 

 

$

(4.30

)

 

$

(2.86

)

Weighted average shares used in calculating income (loss) per share (1):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic

 

 

9,520,947

 

 

 

9,485,271

 

 

 

3,373,316

 

 

 

651,593

 

 

 

555,805

 

Diluted

 

 

9,520,947

 

 

 

10,361,373

 

 

 

4,667,503

 

 

 

651,593

 

 

 

555,805

 

 

(1)

See Note 1 of Notes to Financial Statements for an explanation of the method used to calculate net income or loss per share and the number of shares used in the computation of the net per share amounts.

37


 

 

 

As of December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

2015

 

 

2014

 

Balance Sheet Data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

13,620,656

 

 

$

15,026,068

 

 

$

45,161,403

 

 

$

5,335,913

 

 

$

3,590,745

 

Short-term investments

 

 

20,168,981

 

 

 

21,287,064

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working capital

 

 

35,574,395

 

 

 

36,352,509

 

 

 

41,573,071

 

 

 

1,802,826

 

 

 

3,412,680

 

Total assets

 

 

52,907,112

 

 

 

56,297,908

 

 

 

56,063,503

 

 

 

15,260,414

 

 

 

8,733,058

 

Preferred stock warrant liability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

709,504

 

 

 

809,974

 

Long-term notes payable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,333,333

 

 

 

2,721,865

 

 

 

346,873

 

Preferred redeemable convertible stock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

43,106,906

 

 

 

40,724,356

 

Preferred convertible stock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5,968,549

 

 

 

5,968,549

 

Additional paid in capital

 

 

93,583,069

 

 

 

89,907,766

 

 

 

88,582,470

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(44,994,061

)

 

 

(42,409,741

)

 

 

(43,550,996

)

 

 

(46,475,746

)

 

 

(44,389,408

)

Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)

 

 

45,147,332

 

 

 

46,224,979

 

 

 

45,032,402

 

 

 

(39,412,822

)

 

 

(37,670,138

)

 

38


ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and operating results together with our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based upon current beliefs, plans and expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” or in other parts of this annual report.  

Business Overview

We are a leading provider of advanced antenna technologies used to enable high performance wireless networking across a broad range of markets, including Consumer, Enterprise and Automotive.  Our innovative antenna systems are designed to address key challenges with wireless system performance faced by our customers.  We provide solutions to complex RF, engineering challenges and help improve wireless services that require higher throughput, broad coverage footprint, and carrier grade quality.

Within the Consumer market, our antennas are deployed in a large and growing market of devices that include consumer access points, wireless gateways, Wi-Fi Mesh systems, smart TVs, smart home devices, and set-top boxes, and support an array of technologies, that include WLAN, Wi-Fi, LTE, 5G and LPWAN.    

Within the Enterprise market, our antennas are deployed across a wide range of systems, devices, and applications that include access points and gateways, small cells, and remote radio heads in high-density environments such as buildings, campuses, terminals and stadiums. Furthermore, within the enterprise market we support an array of technologies, including WiFi, LTE, 5G and LPWAN.  

In the Automotive market, our antennas are deployed in a wide range of vehicles to support a variety of wireless connectivity solutions in the fleet and aftermarket segment. The majority of our revenues are currently derived from fleet and aftermarket sales and support a variety of technologies that include WiFi, 3G, LTE, Satellite and LPWAN. Going forward, our strategy is to augment our current sales in the automotive aftermarket with design wins and sales into the automotive OEMs and in 2018 we announced two design wins with automotive OEMs.

Our design teams partner with customers from the early stages of antenna prototyping to device throughput testing to facilitate optimal performance and quick time to market.  Our capabilities include design, custom engineering support, integration, and OTA testing.  These capabilities have resulted in a strong reputation across the OEM, ODM and chipset manufacturer ecosystem.  Our competencies and strengths have helped us secure design wins used in multiple reference designs from leading Wi-Fi chipset vendors, OEMs, ODMs, chipset manufacturers and service providers rely on these reference designs and our engineering skills to deliver superior throughput performance.  We view our relationship with OEM, ODM, chipset manufacturers and service providers as an important attribute to our long-term strategy and success.  

We believe demand is growing rapidly for our advanced antenna solutions and there is a significant market opportunity. As the ability to provide mobile internet access has grown, our solutions and expertise have become more important to prospects and customers. As a passive component, embedded antennas can be viewed as a commodity. However, our design, engineering, and research show that antenna selection, placement, and testing can have significant improvements in device performance. We believe that we are chosen when performance is a more significant factor than price, and our distinctive focus on superior designs that provide increased range and throughput has allowed us to build a leadership position in the in-home WLAN device market.

Our financial highlights for 2018 include the following:

 

Sales increased by 22% in 2018 compared to 2017.  Our product sales increased across each of our targeted end markets.  

 

 

Gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased to 44% in 2018 compared to 47% in 2017.  Our gross profit decreased due to a combination of sales mix within our end markets, introduction of new

39


 

products, pricing, and production related costs.  Our gross profit in future periods will continue to be impacted by market conditions impacting our pricing power, the change in our sales mix and the introduction of new products.  

 

 

Income from operations decreased by $4.3 million in 2018 compared to 2017.  Operating expenses in 2018 included a $2.0 million increase in non-recurring expenses related to a marketing-related agreement and its termination and executive severance and a $1.2 million increase in stock compensation expenses related to the vesting of options for a former executive.  These non-recurring expenses in addition to increases in research and development, sales and marketing and general administrative expenses, offset by an increase in gross profit, led to the decrease in income from operations.  We expect our research and development and sales and marketing expenses to continue to increase in the future periods but believe our general and administrative expenses will remain consistent with 2018.  

 

 

Our effective tax rate was 4% in 2018 compared to 2% in 2017.  The variance from the U.S. federal statutory tax rate of 21% and 34% from 2018 to 2017 was due to the change in tax law.  

 

 

We ended 2018 with cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $33.8 million.  

 

We believe that our performance and future success depend upon several factors including manufacturing costs, investments in our growth, our ability to expand into growing addressable markets, including Consumer, Enterprise, and Automotive, the ASP of our products per device, the number of antennas per device, and our ability to diversify the number of devices that incorporate our antenna products. Our customers are extremely price conscious, and our operating results are affected by pricing pressure which may force us to lower prices below our established list prices. In addition, a few end-customer devices which incorporate our antenna products comprise a significant amount of our sales, and the discontinuation or modification of such devices may materially and adversely affect our sales and results of operations. Our ability to maintain or increase our sales depends on new and existing end-customers selecting our antenna solutions for their heterogeneous next-generation wireless devices and networks depends on the proliferation of Wi-Fi connected home devices and data intensive applications, investments in our growth to address customer needs, target new end markets, develop our product offerings and technology solutions and expand internationally, as well as successfully integrating past and any future acquisitions. While each of these areas presents significant opportunities for us, they also pose significant risks and challenges we must successfully address. We discuss many of these risks, uncertainties and other factors in this annual report in greater detail under the section entitled “Risk Factors.”

 

Seasonality

Our operating results historically have not been subject to significant seasonal variations.  However, our operating results are affected by how customers make purchasing decisions around local holidays in China.  For example, a national holiday the first week of October in China may cause customers to purchase product in the third quarter ahead of their holiday season to account for higher volume requirements in the fourth quarter.  In addition, although it is difficult to make broad generalizations, our sales tend to be lower in the first quarter of each year compared to other quarters due to the Chinese New Year.  Results for any quarter may not be indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full fiscal year and these patterns may change as a result of general customer demand or product cycles.

 

Key Components of Our Results of Operations and Financial Condition

Sales

We primarily generate revenue from the sales of our products. As discussed further in “Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates” below, we recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the fee is fixed or determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured. We generally recognize sales at the time of shipment to our customers, provided that all other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Although currently insignificant, we may also generate service revenue derived from agreements to provide design, engineering, and testing for a customer.

40


Cost of Goods Sold

The cost of goods sold reflects the cost of producing antenna products that are shipped for our customers’ devices. This primarily includes manufacturing costs of our products payable to our third-party contract manufacturers, as well as manufacturing costs incurred at our manufacturing facility in Arizona. The cost of goods sold that we generate from services provided to customers primarily includes personnel costs.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses are classified into three categories: research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative. For each category, the largest component is personnel costs, which includes salaries, employee benefit costs, bonuses, and stock-based compensation. Operating expenses also include allocated overhead costs for depreciation of equipment, facilities and information technology. Allocated costs for facilities consist of leasehold improvements and rent. Operating expenses are generally recognized as incurred.

Research and development. Research and development expenses primarily consist of personnel and facility-related costs attributable to our engineering research and development personnel. These expenses include work related to the design, engineering and testing of antenna designs, and antenna integration, validation and testing of customer devices. These expenses include salaries, including stock-based compensation, benefits, bonuses, travel, communications, and similar costs, and depreciation and allocated operating expenses such as office supplies, premises expenses and insurance. We may also incur expenses from consultants and for prototyping new antenna solutions. We expect research and development expense to continue to increase in future periods as we continue to invest in the development of new solutions and markets and as we invest in improving efficiencies within our supply chain, although our research and development expense may fluctuate as a percentage of total sales.

Sales and marketing. Sales and marketing expenses primarily consist of personnel and facility-related costs for our sales, marketing, and business development personnel, stock-based compensation, bonuses and commissions earned by our inside sales representatives and third-party sales representative firms. Sales and marketing expense also includes the costs of trade shows, marketing programs, promotional materials, demonstration equipment, travel, recruiting, and allocated costs for certain facilities. We expect sales and marketing expense to increase in future periods as we continue to invest in our growth opportunities, although our sales and marketing expense may fluctuate as a percentage of total sales.

General and administrative. General and administrative expenses primarily consist of personnel and facility- related costs for our executive, finance, and administrative personnel, including stock-based compensation, as well as legal, accounting, and other professional services fees, depreciation, and other corporate expenses. We have recently incurred, and expect to continue to incur, additional expenses as we grow our operations and operate as a public company, including higher legal, corporate insurance and accounting expenses, and the additional costs of achieving and maintaining regulatory compliance. We expect general and administrative expense to remain consistent with 2018, although our general and administrative expense may fluctuate as a percentage of total sales.

Other Income

Interest Income. Interest income consists of interest from our cash and cash equivalents and our short-term investments.

Gain on Deferred Purchase Price Liability. During the year ending December 31, 2018, Skycross, Inc. and us came to an agreement that we would pay Skycross $375,000 for deferred consideration under our asset purchase agreement entered into in December 2015.  Gain on deferred consideration consists of the variance between the amount paid to Skycross for the deferred purchase price and the elimination of the accounts receivable due from Skycross and the accounts payable due to Skycross.  

Interest Expense. Interest expense consists of interest on our outstanding debt.

Fair Market Value Adjustments—Warrants. Consists of the change in fair value of our convertible preferred stock warrant liability. The preferred stock warrants are classified as liabilities on our balance sheets and their

41


estimated fair value is re-measured at each balance sheet date using a combination of an option-pricing model and current value model under the probability-weighted return method, with the corresponding change recorded within other expense (income). In May 2016, the warrants were amended such that they became immediately exercisable into shares of our common stock. Concurrent with such amendment, the holders of the outstanding warrants elected to net exercise the warrants, and they were granted an aggregate of 127,143 shares of our common stock. Following such net exercise, there will be no future re-measurement of the warrant liability.

Provision for Income Taxes

Provision for income taxes consists of federal and state income taxes. In assessing the realizability of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.  The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which those temporary differences become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities (including the impact of available carryback and carryforward periods), projected future taxable income, and tax-planning strategies in making this assessment.  It is difficult for us to project future taxable income as the timing and size of sales of our products are variable and difficult to predict.  We concluded that it is not more likely than not that we will utilize our deferred tax assets other than those that are offset by reversing temporary differences.  

On December 22, 2017, the 2017 Tax Act, was enacted.  The 2017 Tax Act includes a number of changes to existing U.S. tax laws that impact us, most notably a reduction of the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2018.  The 2017 Tax Act changes primarily affected our tax rate on certain deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities.  

Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our operating results for the periods presented as a percentage of our total sales for those periods. The period-to-period comparison of financial results is not necessarily indicative of financial results to be achieved in future periods.

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

 

(calculated as a percentage of associated sales)

 

Statement of Operations Data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sales

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

Cost of goods sold

 

 

56.3

%

 

 

52.9

%

 

 

55.6

%

Gross profit

 

 

43.7

%

 

 

47.1

%

 

 

44.4

%

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

 

15.4

%

 

 

14.8

%

 

 

12.9

%

Sales and marketing

 

 

18.2

%

 

 

14.2

%

 

 

13.1

%

General and administrative

 

 

15.7

%

 

 

16.2

%

 

 

10.4

%

Total operating expenses

 

 

49.3

%

 

 

45.2

%

 

 

36.4

%

Income (loss) from operations

 

 

(5.6

)%

 

 

1.9

%

 

 

8.0

%

Other income

 

 

(1.5

)%

 

 

(0.4

)%

 

 

(0.7

)%

Income (loss) before income taxes

 

 

(4.1

)%

 

 

2.3

%

 

 

8.7

%

Provision for income taxes

 

 

0.2

%

 

 

0.1

%

 

 

0.0

%

Net income (loss)

 

 

(4.3

)%

 

 

2.2

%

 

 

8.7

%

 

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Sales

 

$

60,625,212

 

 

$

49,521,171

 

 

$

11,104,041

 

 

 

22.4

%

 

42


 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Sales

 

$

49,521,171

 

 

$

43,433,867

 

 

$

6,087,304

 

 

 

14.0

%

 

The increase in sales of $11.1 million from $49.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 to $60.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, was primarily driven by an increase in demand within the Consumer, Enterprise and Automotive markets.  

The increase in sales of $6.1 million from $43.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $49.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, was primarily driven by an increase in demand within the Consumer market.  

Cost of Goods Sold

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Cost of goods sold

 

$

34,114,044

 

 

$

26,218,965

 

 

$

7,895,079

 

 

 

30.1

%

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Cost of goods sold

 

$

26,218,965

 

 

$

24,156,792

 

 

$

2,062,173

 

 

 

8.5

%

The increase in cost of goods sold between the years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, was primarily due to an increase in costs of goods sold within the Consumer and Enterprise markets  

The increase in cost of goods sold between the years ended December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, was primarily due to an increase in the Consumer market and the carrier gateway and set-top-box products.  

Gross Profit

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Gross profit

 

$

26,511,168

 

 

$

23,302,206

 

 

$

3,208,962

 

 

 

13.8

%

Gross profit (percentage of sales)

 

 

43.7

%

 

 

47.1

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

-3.3

%

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Gross profit

 

$

23,302,206

 

 

$

19,277,075

 

 

$

4,025,131

 

 

 

20.9

%

Gross profit (percentage of sales)

 

 

47.1

%

 

 

44.4

%

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.7

%

 

Gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased 3.3% for the year ended December 31, 2018 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2017.  The decrease in gross profit as a percentage of sales was primarily driven by a shift in the sales mix for the year ended December 31, 2018 when compared to the year ended December 31, 2017.

Gross profit as a percentage of sales increased 2.7% for the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2016.  The increase in gross profit as a percentage of sales was primarily driven by a shift in the sales mix for the year ended December 31, 2017 when compared to the year ended December 31, 2016.

 

43


Operating Expenses

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Operating Expenses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

$

9,319,116

 

 

$

7,319,575

 

 

$

1,999,541

 

 

 

27.3

%

Sales and marketing

 

 

11,032,752

 

 

 

7,012,829

 

 

 

4,019,923

 

 

 

57.3

%

General and administrative

 

 

9,545,306

 

 

 

8,000,602

 

 

 

1,544,704

 

 

 

19.3

%

Total

 

$

29,897,174

 

 

$

22,333,006

 

 

$

7,564,168

 

 

 

33.9

%

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2017

 

 

2016

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Operating Expenses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

$

7,319,575

 

 

$

5,622,132

 

 

$

1,697,443

 

 

 

30.2

%

Sales and marketing

 

 

7,012,829

 

 

 

5,670,625

 

 

 

1,342,204

 

 

 

23.7

%

General and administrative

 

 

8,000,602

 

 

 

4,532,151

 

 

 

3,468,451

 

 

 

76.5

%

Total

 

$

22,333,006

 

 

$

15,824,908

 

 

$

6,508,098

 

 

 

41.1

%

 

Research and Development

Research and development expense increased $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to the year ended December 31, 2017, primarily due to a $1.4 million increase in operating expenses associated with increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases, $0.4 million increase in miscellaneous research and development expenses and $0.1 million increase in depreciation.

Research and development expense increased $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the year ended December 31, 2016, primarily due to a $0.7 million increase in operating expenses associated with the acquisition of the Antenna Plus assets, $0.7 million increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases and $0.3 million increase in miscellaneous research and development expenses.  

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expense increased $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to the year ended December 31, 2017, primarily due to $1.5 million increase in non-recurring expenses related to a marketing-related agreement and its termination and executive severance, $1.2 million increase in marketing expenses, $0.9 million increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases and $0.2 million increase in miscellaneous sales and marketing expenses.  

Sales and marketing expense increased $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the year ended December 31, 2016, primarily due to a $0.6 million increase in operating expenses associated with the acquisition of the Antenna Plus assets, $0.5 million increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases, $0.1 million increase in travel and entertainment and $0.1 million increase in miscellaneous sales and marketing expenses.  

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense increased $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to the year ended December 31, 2017, primarily due to a $1.2 million increase in stock compensation expenses related to the acceleration of stock compensation expense for a former executive, $0.5 million in non-recurring expenses related to executive severance, and $0.4 million increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases offset by a $0.6 million decrease in outsourced services.

44


General and administrative expense increased $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the year ended December 31, 2016, primarily due to a $0.9 million increase in acquisition costs, $0.8 million increase in costs of being a public company, $0.7 million increase in operating expenses associated with the acquisition of the Antenna Plus assets, $0.6 million increase in personnel expenses associated with headcount increases, $0.2 million increase in expense due to the completion of the R&D tax credit study and $0.1 million increase in corporate legal expenses.   

Other Income

 

 

 

For the Year Ended December 31,

 

 

 

2018

 

 

2017

 

 

Increase/(Decrease)

 

 

% Change

 

Other expense (income):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest income

 

$

(584,735

)

 

$

(296,451

)

 

$

(288,284

)

 

 

97.2

%

Interest expense

 

 

30,988

 

 

 

98,711

 

 

 

(67,723

)

 

 

-68.6

%

Gain on deferred purchase price liability

 

 

(388,733

)